Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-11
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
..I do. most emnhaticaIlx." !"

''I do, most emphatically,"
"Well, you have DR.. Osborne's card with
his address; perhaps you had better see him
and question him further. If, after that
you still think that you should go on with
the case YOU can do so. IF we are the vic
Tins of fraud it is worth fighting about, fol
Mr.. Englefeld took out several policies
with us. and it is good big sum that is al
stake"
Doggett lost no time in seeking an inter
view with DR.. Osborne at Woods Hotel,
whom he found gaunt and haggard and pre-
maturely aged, but with traces of great
physical beauty still remaining from the
havoc which long-continued sickness had
wrought. He had been twice wounded, he
explained to the detective, while engaged
on his mission of charity to the wounded,
once smitten with cholera, and finally
struck down with enteric fever, from which
he had emerged more dead than alive.
Have you ever to your knowledge been
reported for dead?" inquired Doggett, after
be had heard from DR.. Osborne's own lips
the story which in its outlines Mr.. Webber
had already told him.
"It may be so. have not inquired"
"Ah" said Doggett, with a significant
book he carried with him. 1--WE must have
brief consideration he asked again, 'sYou
say that Mr.. Leyton preserved a perfectly
calm manner throughout your interview
with him?"
Perfectly. He was evidently discom-
posed at first when announced my name
1 had to do that, you understand; for this
last illness has made me look so like an
ourang-outang that my mother would not
know me. He turned white TO the very
lips when 1 told him who / was, and /
thought he made a movement as though to
take me BY the hand, and then suddenly
arrested it. But he quickly recovered him.
self and soon showed that with face of
brass he possessed nerves of steel. We got
angry at last, and then he threatened to
call his grooms and evict me from the
premises"
"Have you consulted any SOLICITOR"
ST have-two. They told me that 1 could
proceed against him by writ of habeas
corpus to recover the child, but was op-
posed to that for the same reason that they
recommended it. They thought he would
get frightened. So did /. They thought
that in his fright he would surrender the
child rather than fight the matter out in a
court of law. 1 didn't. thought he would
be more likely to take to his heels and carry
the child with him. 1t can make no differ
ence to him whether he lives in England or
on the continent, and 1 am physically too
weak to enter upon a chase of that kind.
No doubt he sees death written in my face
which is true-and thinks he can wear me
out, and win by waiting, in an attitude of
defiance"
"Your policy is perfectly sound, in my
humble judgment" said Doggett. "It is
like deer-stalking, in a case like this We
must lie lew until our quarry is well within
range and a single shot can bring him
down"
'I think SC" said DIR. Osborne, $50 1
have been going quietly to work with the
assistance OF detectives. Too quietly" he
added with sardonic smile; ''the science or
art of detection-which do you call it?-
seems to rank among the lost arts in En-
gland here. Your detectives discover moth
ing unless it is right under their noses"
''The remark is generally true," said
Doggett, "but there are exceptions"
u meant no offense, said DIR. Osborne,
apologetically.
"And none is TAKEN" the detective re-
piled, promptly.
The conversation between Doggett and
DR.. Osborne lasted till far into the night,
by which time Doggett thought he saw his
way to path that would lead him in sight
of his quarry. Reluctantly enough, he
had been brought to consent to share his
counsels with DR.. Osborne, and to make him
his companion in his journeys. The de-
tective felt that the presence of the doctor
might occasionally prove embarrassing, but
he could not resist the pleading of the sick
man and the pitiful, yearning look in the
eyes, as he implored the detective to treat
him as a corlrade. in commiseration for his
feelings as father, and the fever which
consumed him while sitting still, doing
nothing.
If ever Doggett saw death written on a
mans face he thought he saw it In Osborne's,
and fearing that enforced inactivity might
only hasten the catastrophe, he yielded,
stipulating, however, that when they went
down to Chelderton next day DR.. Osborne
should submit to go there disguised, lest
his presence in the little town should get
wind, and, reaching Mr.. Leyton's ears,
startle the game.