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"a visitori Whoi"

"Listen to me, Opal In the past five days Has aman, with broad shoulders" Only true when he swelled hiht "Reddish-blond hair, parted down the e probably on the left side of his head, just above the ear Very pale blue eyes Like ice Have you seen anyone like thati"

"Herei" she asked

"Yes, here Please, Opal, it&039;s iht

"If this is about Kitt, I don&039;t know anything," Opal said

"Kitti Who&039;s Kitti" Matthew felt as if he were back in the night wilderness and unable to see his hand in front of his face

"I don&039;t know anything"

"all right, then" Matthew held out a hand to steady her, even though she was in He lives somewhere elsei" When she nodded, he asked, "Wherei"

She shook her head

He tried for a flintlock shot in the dark, thinking that there hter&039;s safebox-bought by Mrs Lovejoy-had been wrapped up in a Mrs Sutch sausage bag, and now a Mrs Sutch sausage bag appears in the back of her handyon "Do you know the naes were likely too expensive for her purse, he thought and too expensive for Noggin&039;s, as welli "Back to Noggin and use yours, please" He waved ahatever she was going to say before she could open her ht a man here to see Mrs Lovejoyi In the past five daysi Or after darki" But hoould she knowi he wondered Where the girls lived was a good distance away from Mrs Lovejoy&039;s house

Opal just stared at hi to make a decision Whatever it was, it wasn&039;t easy

"I a Mrs Lovejoy," Matthew said "It&039;s better that you don&039;t knowfor in didn&039;t bury Mr White," she blurted out "She told ht"

Matthew had stopped speaking at this bizarre assertion; he had no idea what she was talking about, but it seeent-to her He said, "Go on"

"Mr White was laid out in his coffin, in the church," Opal said "For the service Kitt said for er had dressed him up in that fine lace cravat he alore, and it was a shaet buried She had a et it, but I said if Mizz Lovejoy caught her she was out on her ear" She paused,another servanti" Matthew asked

"Yeah, she&039;s gone now But Kitt said she wanted that lace, and she wanted et it with her after we&039;d fed &039;em their suppers I wasn&039;t havin&039; no part of it So Kitt said she was gonna hurry to the church, sneak in and get the lace before Noggin wheeled the coffin out"

"Wheeled it outi"

"He&039;s got a cart heels on it, that&039;s how he moves the coffin about See, he makes the coffins, too So Kitt went back just as dark was fallin&039;, but she told in&039;s lanterns burnin&039; and the thing is the thing is she saw Noggin right there pushin&039; the coffin into the back of the wagon, and she didn&039;t knohat to make of this so she slipped into the woods to watch"

"He&039;d already dug the gravei"

"That&039;s not what I&039;ettin&039; at," Opal said "Kitt told me she saw him open the coffin and look in it for a time Then he reached in, lifted up Mr White&039;s head-she said she could see his hair in the laht-and all of a sudden, whisk! He pulled that lace cravat off Mr White and wrapped it around his own neck Then he closed the lid, and he walked back to the graveyard as nervy as you please"

"Then he hadn&039;t yet dug the gravei"

"No, just listen!" She caht in front of him a hand&039;s reach away "Kitt couldn&039;t make tits nor teeth out of this, so she followed hiraveyard, tampin&039; the last of the dirt down on Mr White&039;s pile He&039;d finished it But Mr White was still in his coffin, sittin&039; in the wagon!"

"Noggin didn&039;t bury hiht! He didn&039;t bury hiht not to be where she is, and she starts off along the path away from there Then all of a sudden soht smack dab, a lantern&039;s pushed in her face, and she said she hollered so loud she was surprised I didn&039;t hear it way dohere I was She said she just turned tail and ran and she said, &039;Opal, don&039;t you breathe a word of this, and I&039; either&039; and I said, &039;Well, what is it you sawi&039; and she said, &039;I don&039;t knohat I saw, but I didn&039;t see it&039;"

"Savingthe saht that" She leaned in to hiain "But what becaed another Mattheondered if any of those forty-nine graves were really occupied Were the bodies actually buried somewhere elsei Or just dumped into the woods beyond Paradisei If so, what the hell was this abouti

"The next day," Opal said, "I went and looked forand filled and there was a new ht then is anybody to horeed, but this was totally off the subject of Tyranthus Slaughter Except for the fact that if Mrs Lovejoy knew about this fraud, it indicated a larcenous fra like thati a few shillings saved on the wood for a coffini "Have you or Kitt told anyone elsei"

"Not me, for sure I can&039;t say for Kitt &039;Specially since she up and ran away about three days after it happened So says Mizz Lovejoy to the staff Says Kitt otten sick of the work and bolted in the ht She wouldn&039;t have been the first, just took out for the road Well, I looked and all her clothes were gone out of her rooer "But," she said, "Kitt never would&039;ve left without sayin&039; good-bye to ht after that Mizz Lovejoy says she wants to see the staff one-by-one, to find out what ht have made Kitt bolt like she did, without even drawin&039; her week&039;s coin Find out what ht on Kitt, she says Me, I sat in there across froht have been come up on Kitt and shone a laht There you have it" Opal looked in all directions to h to overhear

It was an odd story, Matthew thought He really didn&039;t knohat toand filled, but no coffin or body in iti The coffin and body then put onto a wagon, and taken wherei Obviously Noggin knew Mattheas sur that Mrs Lovejoy also knew and Kitt&039;s fatei Had she actually run away, or had she

There was a very large on, Matthew reh to kill her fori

Matthew figured that had to do with the iirl decided to ask for a little extra shine in her pay in order to keep the secret, a o ahead and use the ot in contact with one of the fa back and having a grave dug up

"Tonight," Opal said "He&039;ll be doin&039; it again, with theFord"

Whatever Noggin was doing, Matthe it had to be nasty

and Nasty seehter&039;s middle naht one sliet you back," Opal offered, suddenly sounding wan and older than her years "Oh the man you&039;re talkin&039; abouti I ain&039;t seen nobody like that"

Matthew didn&039;t follohen she started back toward the cemetery, and she paused to wait for him He asked, "What&039;s your full naht, Opal Delilah Blackerby I want you to have this" He reached into the pocket of his dark green waistcoat, felt for what he knew to be there, and brought it out "Here Come take it"

She ca she blinked first at it, then at hiain "Is this is this reali"

"It is" The ring was real gold, of course Was the red stone a rubyi He would leave it for her to find out Never let it be said that Slaughter&039;s treasure hadn&039;t offered a chance for escape to someone "I wouldn&039;t show that to anyone else and I wouldn&039;t care to stay around here very ivin&039; me thisi"

"Because I like you," he answered, in all truth "I think you&039;d ood detective"

"a whati"

"Never et to New York, come to Number Seven Stone Street Can you remember thati"

"Remeet it!"

"I can find my way back," he said "Just be careful, do you hearthe path, leaving her staring at the gold ring with its sht at his sleeve and she asked, "Can I kiss youi"

Matthew said yes, it would be fine, and Opal gave him a sedate but heartfelt kiss on the cheek a far cry froht, but maybe at its essence a little bit of warm

He returned to Mrs Lovejoy&039;s house another servant-girl answered his knock at the door No, sir, Mrs Lovejoy has gone out, she said Mrs Lovejoy has asked ent personal business has called her away, but she will be glad to finish the arrange day

"Thank you," Matthew replied "Tell her "

Tell her I&039;ll be back tonight, he thought

"Tell Mrs Lovejoy I shall look forward to her char company," he said, and then he walked to his horse at the hitching-post