Wichita eagle., 1889-12-01

IEB though in Hot-
Wb brooks mind il
did not receive
the consideration It was emitted to. His
mind was fixed upon establishing the
lines connecting Fountain and the dead
Templeton, and he relation they bore to
the dead Pierson.
These lines established, he thought the
way to the determination of the mystery
would be straightforward and rapid.
Hence be gave little thought to the fact
that an owner of the diamond button
had probably been found
He did not blame Flora for refusing to
yield up the secrets of Fountain, and In
fact respected her reserve. He did wish,
however, that Tom had not gone to
Fountain before the result of his visit to
Flora had been known, and his first inn
pulse was to set out in search Of his
journalistic friend and communicate the
facts in his possession Indeed. it would
be SO much easier To meet and talk with
Fountain after the interview with Flora.
A little reflection told him how useless
would be the effort, for he had no knowl-
edge Of Toms plans
1t was now late in the afternoon, and
he could do nothing if he returned to his
office, SO he determined to call upon the
Templetons and see if he could not
elicit something from them that would
point to their connection with Pierson.
He found both ladies in and both I'M
affectedly glad to see him He plunged
at once into his subject by asking if they
had any relatives of the name of Pierson.
Mrs. Templeton was quite sure she had
none, and as equally sure Mr.. Templeton
had none.
On MIR. Templeton's side 1t was easy Of
settlement Her husband. after his I'M
cle's death. whose name was the same,
had no relatives in this country. however
remote. He maintained correspond
ance with relatives of the same name in
England and also with those upon his
mothers side. of the name of Col
chester
He had visited England a few times
during his life. and on two occasions
relatives had visited him in this coun-
try. but they had returned to their own
home.
On the occasion of his death she had
received many kind letters of coincidence
from his family abroad. many from
those of whom she had never even heard
before, but among them all there was
none of the name of Pierson. These let
oh baA nd of
to Mr.. Holbrook she would give them to
him
AS 10 her own relatives, she had al
ready told MIR. Holbrook all she knew
about them
Holbrook pursued his inquiries as to
ner fathers relatives. Did she know
anything of the brother Of her father?
Every little" was the reply. He had
run away to sea before she was born,
and all she had heard of him was long
after all sight had been lost Of him, and
after he was supposed to be dead. Evil
IDENTIFY he had done something wrong,
for the elders took little pleasure in speak
ing of him, and when they did it was in
a tone of relief that he was dead. He
had died In her childhood.
Holbrook then said that though they
had made little progress in the unfolding
Of the mystery surrounding the death
Of her son. yet they were steadfastly at
work at it. That while he had thought
1t best to say little to them about it
while they were cropping in the dark,
they had in their investigation thought,
perhaps, a man Of the name of Pierson,
who had died recently. had been con-
nected with the events
1t was strange, but none the less true,
that Tom had failed to tell Holbrook of
he report the Shadow had made to him
IF the scene between the drunkard Pres
ton and Parker. Had he done SO Hoi-
brock undoubtedly would have elected
something from Mrs. Templeton which
fairs. As matter of fact. the report of
the Shadow had made but little impress
sion on Tom at the time, for his mind
then was concentrated upon the task Of
fastening the crime OF murder upon
Fountain Such thought as he did give
TO il was that, perhaps, discreet in
ouiry in that direction might lead up to
a discovery of some of Persons sur
.oundings, which might help them TO an
understanding of how Templeton, Foun-
tain and Pierson were connected. And
SO it was that Holbrook was treading
close upon facts of great value without
being conscious of it.
However, satisfied that Mrs Temple
TON could tell him nothing that could be
Of value, he dropped the subject, and
turned the conversation in another chan
mel.
But Annie, who was sitting at the win
dow engaged in embroidery work. and
making very pretty picture as she sat
there, remarked that she was glad the
search was being continued. for though
they had heard little about it recently,
they were greatly interested in it.
Holbrook. who thought there was
something of gentle reproach in the
words. said:
THE truth is. Miss Templeton, nothing
has been accomplished. For ten days we
have been under the impression that we
could lay our hands upon the man, but
this morning we discovered that the
MAN in question could not have possibly