The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1878-08-29

l nun! Ouc NatcS lIoul ICCt OAECts
"And why should she not date from
Fleet Street, sir2"
| II should be sorry to prevent her"
! said the unmoved philosopher. "Has tins
correspondence continued long2"
80, yes-a couple Of years or SC, but not
nearly so regularly as lately"
"For how long regularity"
"About two months"
THAT is, about the time when you
first suspected the betrayal of conf
dence?"
"Really my friend if you can't see furth-
er into milestone than that,you may give
up thu profession" said my uncle.
''Takc my word for it, the Bcaumonts
have nothing to do with It. Rubbish
"IIum!" 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 lie came back,
and was again closeted with my uncle and
Parker, with whom he had fallen into
great disfavor.
"Wants to make job,'' said the latter
-"aregular humbug."
"Sir George said the regular hum
Ouf1, AN0 NAL OCduAAVuG 4OChCN NCSN
in his room2"
"Yes, sir" said Parker, 'hc has,"
"Have you key which will open it?''
II have-and what of that?''
II wish to have that desk opened with
out his knowledge, and the contents
brought to me-"
"And on what pretence," said my un-
| Gle, lido you propose to put this insult on
a man against whom there is no reason
able ground or suspicion, and who has
not been allowed to speak for h,mself?''
:'There need be no insult, for he will
know nothing OF it; neither will any one
else"
u will not permit it, SIR
"Hum! Then l can do no more in the
business"
"But,' said Parker, whose official no
tions made him unwilling to break off the
negotians in this manner. "what pretcnce
have you for doing this to Mr.. Beaumont
and not to the other clerks?"
'sShall tell you? There is no such
person as Elinor Beaumont, and the ad-
dress in Fleet Street is notorious haunt
of suspected foreigners
"Good gracious" said my uncle, chang
ing color, "you don't saw that?"
| ut is fact, and you will see the ne
eessity of being cautious and silent in the
matter. Detection hangs on thread as
it stands, and whisper will break it,"
"What do you mcan," said Parker,
"about Elinor Beaumont? I have seen
her."
"There is no Elinor Beaumont in Jer-
sey. sent and have ascertained the
fact"
II am sure there is some mistake about
all this, which Beaumont can clear up.
Let us send for him."
eff you do the game is up. trust in
fact he does not know of my visits. We
cannot be too cautious in these matters"
"Pedantic ass" muttcrcd my uncle;
"but 1 suppose we had better give him
his own way. IF you meet Parker and
me here at seven tonight, we shall have
that wonderful desk opened, and your
great discoveries shall be made"
They met again that evening. The
desk was opened by Parker, and bun
die Of letters, carefully packed up, all
from Elinor Beaumont, and u quantity
Of circulars, play bills, and shop receipts
were handed to the expert.
That gentlemen read through the let
tiers, and seemed much struck by the
| last.
"Read that" said he, handing it to my
Uncle. As the letter is important, give
it entire.
$50 FLEET STREET, Sept. "a, 1909
"My Dear Charles Although we had
an adverse wind all the way, VIC made
without difficulty the port we were bound
for. y Aunt, in spite of the weight of
her fifty years, enjoyed the trip much,
and is ready to sail again. l hope YOU
will think of sending the line you promis-
ed on the 25th, and come yourself as our
party is much smaller, and we should en-
joy the visit"
"When l was in London last week I
saw our Cousin Harry, fresh from Wind
sor. There is little change to be observ-
ed in him-not a. much as you would ex-
pect. Come to US on Friday.
"Yours, very etfectionately, EL1Non b.
| My Uncle read this out loud, from be-
ginning to end, and then he said, "Do you
see any thing suspicious in that? It
seems to me very innocent"
"Hum! 1t may be. Was there any
thing else in the desk2" said he, address
ing Parker.
"You may go and look" growled that
potentate; and he led the way, the expert
following.
The desk was quite empty, with the
exception of two or three scraps of waste
paper. On one of these the ex pert pounc.
ed, and returned with an air of citation
to the other room. He then unfoldcd
his scrap of paper, and disclosed a half.
sheet exactly the size of the paper on
which Elinor Beaumont's letters were
written, in which oblong holes at inter.
walls had been cut.
He then placed his half.sheet over the
letter, and handed both, thus placed, to
my Uncle, whose astonishcd eyes read
the following words, which the holes lef,
visible:
"Fleet wind-bound. Fifty sail of the
line, rs smaller. Should the wind change,
expect US on Friday"
1.-THE devil!'' said my uncle: "and
Nelson ordered off to the West midas. y
Then was there, as you may suppose,
hurry and scurrying, and running and
chasing, and dispatching of government
couriers, and semphore telegraphs and
carrier-pigeons, and all the old-world
means Of communication then in fashion,
The key thus obtained disclosed the
whole correspondence, which turned out
to be connected series of letters from
the French government, struggled into
Jersey. The result history knows; the
INTENDED invasion was abandoned, and
Napoleon went elsewhere.