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On our way to our inn, we met one of the brokers to whom we had spoken in the morning. He asked if we had found what we wanted. "Oh yes," replied my father, "an excellent man, Captain Swales, a friend of Mr Cruden's very superior very superior indeed."
They passed into Mrs Cruden's bedroom, and the thought of the delightful snug little boudoir at Garden Vale sent a shiver through them as they glanced at the bare walls, the dilapidated half-tester, the chipped and oddly assorted crockery. The boys' room was equally cheerless.
I couldn't convince the landlady that they even existed; she always maintained that they never rose to the attics; but one night I armed myself with Cruden's Concordance and, thanks to its weight and my good aim, killed six at a time, and produced the corpses as evidence. I shall never forget the good lady's face!
Sleuth had brought in a book of which the queer name was Cruden's Concordance. That and the Bible Mrs. Bunting had soon discovered that there was a relation between the two books seemed to be the lodger's only reading. As for the delicate and yet the all-important question of money, Mr. Sleuth was everything everything that the most exacting landlady could have wished.
Never mind; they say dress after seven o'clock here, but they're not strict. We can smuggle you in." Oh, how Reginald wished he was safe back in Dull Street! "By the way," continued Blandford, "these are two friends of mine, Cruden Mr Shanklin and Mr Pillans. Cruden's an old Wilderham fellow, you know," he added, in an explanatory aside.
But it is not a case where we can choose. This opening has offered itself. Of course, you are not bound to accept it, but my advice is, take what you can get in these hard times." "Oh, of course, we're paupers, I forgot," said Reg, bitterly, "and beggars mayn't be choosers. Anything you like, mother," added he, meeting Mrs Cruden's sorrowful look with forced gaiety.
With a curious sensation that had no admixture of reluctance, Elsie bent over and received the kiss. "You're prettier than the princess," the little girl declared, and ran away with her book. Elsie Marley hardly knew what would have happened if an elderly lady hadn't come in at that moment and asked for "Cruden's Concordance."
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