Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-05-03

uHcIe. Ln1nK Will speak TO In
First Lord
/ So he spoke to the First Lord, VIII,
thought the affair serious enough.
1T must be in the letters" said he,
"It cannot be in the letters, said m,
uncle.
"As you please" said the chief
"but although you cannot find it there
perhaps another can. I would try al
expert.
My uncle haG no faith in experts, O
Bow street runners, and mistrustet
them. But he could not refuse to tr,
the experiment suggested. So the mos
experienced deciphefersir London wa
summoned into council, and to him tn,
letters of the day were secretly sub
mitted.
He read them all very carefully, look
ed at them in the light, and looked a
the light through them. At last ht
put them ell aside, excepting one from
Elinor Beaumont.
"Who is the lady who writes this p
said the taciturn man of skill, at last
"a very sweet young woman said
Parker, smartly; sister of my private
secretary"
"Does she write often2"
Yes; she is his only correspondent,
and writes about twice week"
"Where does she hve?"
"She lives in Jersey, Beaumont told
me. Their father was sin business
there"
"And does she always write about
the same kind of things rheuma-
tism, picnics, 'squires tea parties, and
the ike2"
"Much the same, excepting when
she speaks of Beaumont himself"
"Hum 20 said the expert.
"Well, SIR" said my uncle, who was
rather impatient of the man of skil's
pomposity, "and what may Hum =
mean2 Have the young woman and
the aunt's rheumatism done the mis-
chief9"
"Hum She dates from Fleet
street 2"
"And Why should she not date from
Fleet street2''
''I should be sorry to prevent her, +"
said the unmoved philosopher. elias
this correspondence continued very
long2"
ooh, yes IA couple of years or
so; but not nearly 50 regularly as
latelyio
For how long regularly 2"
"About two months"
'sThat is about the time when YOU
first suspected the betrayal of conf
dence2"
Really, my friend, if you can't see
farther into milestone than that, you
may give up the profession" said my
uncle. 'Take my word for it, the
Beaumonts have nothing to do with it.
Rubbish -
"Hum!" And with that the man of
skill took his hat and departed, saying
he would return in two days. The two
days, however, were five before he
came back; and he was again closeted
with my uncle and Parker, with whom
he had fallen into great disfavor
"Want's to make a job" said the
latter; " a regular bumbug."
"Sir George - said the regular hum
bug, "has hjr. Beaumont locked desk
in his room:n
eyes, sir, +" said Parker, che has,
Have you key which will open it2''
"I have-and what of that q"
81 wish to have that desk opened
without his knowledge, and the con
tents brought to me-"
"And on what pretence," said my
uncle, "do you propose to put this in
suit on man against whom there is nc
reasonable ground of suspicion. ano
who has not been allowed to speak fol
himself2"
"There need be no insult, for he vii
know nothing of it; neither Will any
one else. !"
81 will not permit it, sir"
"Hum Then can do no more il
the business"
"But," said Parker, whose officia
notions made him unwilling to breal
off the negotiations in this manner
"what pretence have you for doing this
to Mr.. Beaumont, and not to the othe1
clerks ?n
"Shal1 I tell youa There is no sucl
person as Elinor Beaumont, and tn,
address in Fleet street is notorious
haunt of suspected foreigners"
100 FLEET STREET, Sept. 2l, 1903.
My DEAR CHARLES Although WE
had an adverse wind all the way, We
made, without difficulty, the port VIZ
were bound for. My aunt, in spite O.
the weight of her fifty years, enjoyed
the trip much, and is ready to sal
again. hope you viii think of send
ing the line you promised on the 25th
and come yourself, as our party is nov
much smaller, and we should enjoy the
visit.
When was in London last week,
saw our cousin Harry, fresh from
Windsor There is little change to b.
observed in him-not as much as yol
would expect. Come to us on Friday
Yours very aft. ELINoR B.
/ My uncle read this ont loud from be
ginning to end, and then he SAID, Cd
you see anything suspicious in that
1t seems to me very innocent.
"Huml It may be. Was there any
thing else in the desk?" said he, ad
dressing Parker.
"You may go and look, " "growled th
potentate. And he led the way, the ex
pert following
The desk was quite empty, with tn
exception of two or three scraps o
waste paper. On one of these the ez
pert pounced, and returned with an al
of elation to the other room. He thel
unfolded this scrap of paper and dis
closed half sheet, exactly the size o
the paper on which Elinor Beaumont
letters were written, in which oblon,
holes at intervals had been cut. =.
He then placed this half sheet owe
the letter, and handed both, thus placed
to my uncle, whose astonished eye
read the following words, which tn
holes left visible
"Fleet wind-bound. Fifty sail O
the line. Twenty-Five smaller. Should
the wind change, expect us friday
"The Devil !" said my uncle; I" ant
Nelson ordered off to the West Indies.
Then was there, as you may suppose
hurrying and scurrying, and runnin.
and chasing, and dispatching of gov
ernment couriers, and semaphore tele
graphs, and carrier pigeons, and all th,
oldworld means of communicable,
then in fashion. The kew, thus oh
tanned, disclosed the whole correspon
dence, which turned out to be a con
necte / series of letters from the Frencl
government, smuggled into JERSEY
The result history knows. the intend