The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1871-05-13

SAID the UaCluurn man OF skill, aU ldSl.
"a very sweet young woman" said
Parker, smartly; "sister of my private
secretary"
docs she write often?"
eyes; she is his only correspondent,
and writes about twice week"
"Where does she hve?"
''She lives in jersey, Beaumont told
me. Their father was in business
there"
"And does she always write about
the same kind of things-aunt's rheuma-
tism, picnics, squires tea parties, and
the like2"
"Much the same, excepting when
she speaks of Beaumont himself.
Hum !" said the expert.
"Well, sir,n said my uncle, who was
rather impatient of the man of skiIl's
pomposity, land what may Hum =
mean2 Have the young woman and
the aunt's rheumatism done the mis-
chief"
"Hum. She dates from Fleet
street 2"
"And why should she not date from
Fleet street,"
81 should be sorry to prevent her, :"
said the unmoved philosopher. "Has
this correspondence continued very
long 2"
ooh, yes "a couple of years or
so; but not nearly SO regularly as
latelyIn
& For how long regularly"
about two months"
THAT is about the time when you
first suspected the betrayal of conf
dence?o
Really, my friend, if you can't see
farther into a 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 Y
"Hum!n 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
Wants to make job, said the
latter; 6 a regular humbug.'
"Sir George, said the regular hum
bug, has Mr.. Beaumont locked desk
i his room?"
eyes, s:r, said Parker, she has
Have you key which will open it?''
81 have-and what of that rs
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 q man against whom there is no
reasonable ground of suspicion. and
who has not been allowed to speak for
himself2"
"There need be no insult, for he will
know nothing of it; neither will anv
one else
g [ viii not permit 1t, sir
Hum Then [ can do no more in
the business.
But, said Parker, whose official
notions made him unwilling to break
off the negotiations in this manner:
what pretence have you for doing this
to Nh. Beaumont, and not to the other
clerks 2"
Shall tell you? There is no such
person as Elinor Beaumont, and the
address in Fleet street is notorious
haunt Ct suspected foreigners.
40 FLEET STREET, Sept. "a, 1903.
My DEAR CHARLES Although we
had an adverse wind all the way, we
made, without difficulty, the port we
were bound for My aunt, in spite of
the weight of her fifty years, enioyed
the trip much, and is ready to sail
again. hope you will think of send
ing the line you promised on the 25th.
and come yourself, as our party is now
much smaller, and we should enjoy the
visit.
When l was in London last week, |
saw our cousin Harry, fresh from
Windsor. There is little change to be
observed Iii him-not as much as you
would expect Come to us on Friday.
Yours very aft. ELINoR B.
My uncle read this out loud from be-
ginning to end, and then he sad, DO
you see anything suspicious in taat9
1t seems to me very Innocent"
Huml 1t may be. Was there any
thing else in the desk?" said he, adj
dressing Parker.
You may go and look" growled the
potentate. And he led the way, the ex-
pert following
The desk was quite empty, with the
exception of two or three scraps of
waste paper. On one of these the ex-
pert bounced, and returned with an air
of citation to the other room. He then
uniolded this scrap of paper and dis
closed a half sheet, exactly the size of
the paper on which EHnor Beaumont's
letters were written, II which oblonp
holes at intervals had been cut.
He then placed this half sheat over
the letter, and handed both, thus . ced,
to my unc'e, whose astonished ewes
read the following words, which the
holes left visible:
Fleet wind-bound Fifty sail of
the line. Twenty smaller Should
the wind change, expect us Friday"
1.-The Devil !" said my uncle: "and
Nelson ordered off to the West Indies"
Then was there, as you may suppose.
hurrying and scurrying, and running
and chasing, and dispatching of gov
eminent couriers, and semaphore tele-
graphs, and carrier pigeons, and all the
means o. commun; cation
then in fashion. The key, thus OBJ
tanned, disclosed the whole correspon-
dence, which turned out to be q con-