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"But having shown Clyne the cellarway into the house, Miss Rhoda knew too much, and laughed in Clyne's face. He did not dare to make her thefts public, or complain to Mrs. Bensusan, lest Rhoda should tell of the connection between him and the tenant of the Silent House, who passed under the name of Berwin. Therefore, he told Clear to keep his sitting-room door locked."
"Ye want to know who the lady is?" said Rhoda sharply. "Yes, I do. Can you tell me?" "No; but you'll find out from that cloak. I guess why you're taking it." "You are very sharp, Rhoda," said Lucian, rising, with a good-humoured smile, "and well deserve your local reputation. If I find Mr. Wrent, I may require you to identify him; and Mrs. Bensusan also."
It is true that he had no legal authority to make these inquiries, and it was possible that Mrs. Bensusan might refuse to answer questions concerning her own business, unsanctioned by law; but on recalling the description of Miss Greeb, Lucian fancied that Mrs. Bensusan, as a fat woman, might only be good-natured and timid.
Denzil therefore left a message that he would call at noon the next day, and drove from St. James's to Kensington, where he visited Diana. Here he detailed what he had learned and done from the time he had visited Mrs. Bensusan up to the interview with Lydia. Also he displayed the cloak, and narrated how Mrs. Vrain had cleared herself of its purchase.
Building houses cheap and letting them dear; he has made more out of that than in sanding his sugar and chicorying his coffee. He " "What is the name of the tenant?" interrupted Lucian, cutting short this rapid sketch of Peacock's life. "Mrs. Bensusan, one of the largest women hereabouts." "I don't quite understand." "Fat, Mr. Denzil.
Vrain occupied No. 13," replied Denzil. "Who says he did?" "Miss Greeb, my landlady, and she also told me that he left here two days after the murder." "That's as true as true!" cried Mrs. Bensusan, "ain't it, Rhoda? We lost him 'cause he said he couldn't abide living near a house where a crime had been committed."
Bensusan's devil, who entered to forbid her mistress confiding in Lucian. "Oh, Rhoda!" groaned Mrs. Bensusan. "You bad gal! I believe as you've 'ad your ear to the keyhole." "I 'ave!" retorted Rhoda defiantly. "It's been there for five minutes, and good it is for you, mum, as I ain't above listening.
Bensusan a week's rent and left her house two days after Christmas. I returned to Berwin Manor, and shortly afterwards Ferruci joined me there, as he had successfully incarcerated Vrain in the asylum under the name of Michael Clear. "When the advertisement came out, it was I who hinted to Lydia that the dead man seeing that he was called Berwin might be her husband.
Bensusan by offers of higher wages and better quarters, but the girl refused to leave her stout mistress, and so continued quite a fixture of the lodgings. Even in the city, Rhoda had been spoken of by clerks who had lived in Jersey Street, and so had more than a local reputation for originality. This celebrated handmaid was as lean as her mistress was stout.
Bensusan, tossing her head, "with his long white beard and white 'ead, let alone his black velvet skull-cap." "Oh, he wore a skull-cap?" "Only indoors," said Rhoda sharply, "but here I'm 'olding the door wide, sir, so if you've done, we're done." "I'm done, as you call it, for the present," replied Denzil, putting on his hat, "but I may come again. In the meantime, hold your tongues.
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