The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-06
BY ROBERT BARR
Author of 1.-The Face and Mask" "In the
Midst of Alarms" etc
Copyright, 1895, by RobertBa
CHAPTER I.


back of one chair, while he sat down him.
self on another.
II got your telegram" began the editor.
IAN 10 understand from it that you have
failed?'
Yes, SIR" answered the young man
without the slightest hesitation.
Completely"
utterly"
didn't you even get a synopsis of the
documents?''
Not a hanged synop."
The editors frown grew deeper. The
ends of his fingers drummed uervously on
the desk.
"You take failure rather jauntly, it
strikes me-" be said at last.
whats the use of taking it any other
way? ] have the consciousness of knowing
that did my best
..Um, yes. It's great consolation, no
doubt but it doesn't count in the news
paper business. What did you do?''
II received your telegram at Montreal
and at once left for Burnt Pine-most out
landish spot on earth. l found that Kenyon
and Wentw orth were staying at the only
hotel in the place. Tried TO worm out of
them what their reports were TO be. They
were very polite, but l didn't succeed.
Then l tried TO bride them, and they
ordered me out of the ROOM
Perhaps you didn't offer them euopgh"
II offered double what the London syndi-
cate was to pay them for ma king the report,
taking their own word for the amount
couldn't offer more, because at that point
they closed tie discussion by ordering ME
out of the room. tried TO get the reports
that night, on the quiet, out of Wentworth's
yaljse, but was unfortunately interrupted.
The young men wrrc suspicious, and next
morning they left for Ottawa TO post the
reports, as l gathered afierward, To Eng
land. / succeeded in getting hold of The
reports, but / couldn't hang on. There
are too many police in Ottawa to suit me-"
do you mean TO tell me- said the
editor, that you actually had the reports
in your hands, and that they were taken
from you?'
Certainly l had; and as to their being
taken from me, it was either that or jail.
They don't mince matters in Canada, as
they do in the United States, you know"
But should think man of yourshrewd-
ness would have been able to get at least
synopsis of the reports before letting
them out of your possession
MY dear sir said the reporte r,
rather angry, the whole thing covered
] forget how many pages of fools-cap
paper, and was the most mixed up matter
! ever saw i'll my life. / tred-I sat in
my room at the hotel and did my best to
master the details. 1t was full of tech
nicalities, and couldn't make il out 1t
required nliniig expert to get the hang
of their phrases and figures, so / thought
the best thing to do was to telegraph it
all straight through to New York.
knew it would cost a lot of money but
hot 7
thought, perhaps, somebody here could
make sense out of what baffled me; besides,
i wanted toget the documents out of my pos
session just as quickly as possible
Hem" said the editor. You took no
notes whatever?'
mo, did not. l had no time. knew
the moment they missed the documents
they would have the detectives on my
track. As 1t was. | was arrested when
] entered the telegraph office"
''Well, 1t seems 10 me-" said the manag
ing editor, ''if l had once had the papers
in my hand, should not have let them go
until l had got the gist OF what was in
them"
"Oh, it's all very well for you to say
So" replie the reporter with the free
and ear manner which exists between
American newspaper men and their en-
ployers, but l can tell you, with Cana
dian Jail facing man, it is hard to decide
what is best TO do. couldn't get out of
the town for three hours, and before the
end of that time they would have had
my description in the hands of every police
man in the. place. They knew well enough
who IL was who took the papers, SO my
only hope lay in getting the thing tele-
graphed through, and if that had been
accompl ished everything would have been
all right / would have gone to Jail with
pleasure if had got the particulars through
to New York"
"WelI. what are we to do now?'' asked
the ed itor.
I'm sure I don't know. The two men
W Ill be in New York ve:s -=hortly. They
sail, / understand, on the Coloric which
leaves in week. If you think you have a
reporter who can get the particulars out
of these men, should be very pleased to
see you set him on. / tell you, it isn't SO
easytod iscover hat an Englishmandoesn't
want you to know"
"Well," said the editor, perhaps that's
true. l will think about it, or course you
did your best. and l appreciate your eff
forts; but l am sorry you failed"
You are not half so sorry as / am" said
Rivers, as he picked nFa his big Canadian fur
coat and took his leave.
The editor did think about it. He thought
for full two minutes. Then he dashed off a
note on a sheet of paper, pulled down the
little knob that rang the district messenger
alarm, and whenthe uniformed boy appeared
gave him the note, saying:
Deliver this as quickly as you can
The boy disappeared, and the result of his
trip was soon apparent in the arrival of a
very natty young woman i'll the editorial
rooms She was dressed in q neatly fit
ting tailor-made costume. and was a very
pretty girl, who looked about 10, but was,
In reality, considerably older. She had
large, appealing, blue eyes, with a tender,
ordinary man say, what sweet, innocent
look that girl has" Yet what the young
woman didn't know about New York was
not worth knowing. She boosted that she |
could get state secrets from dignified mem
bers of the Cabinet, and an ordinary Senator
or Congressman she looked upon as her law |
full prey. What had been told to her In |
the strictest confidence had often become |
the sensation of the next day In the paper |
she represented. She wrote over a nom de |
guerre, and had tried her hand at nearly |
everything. She had answered advertise |
ments, exposed rogues and swindlers aAA |
had gone to a hotel as chambermaid in or |
der to write her experiences. She had been |
arrested and locked up, so that she might
write q three-column account for the Sun
day edition of the Argus, of How Women
Are Treated at Police Headquarters" The
editor looked upon her as one of the most
members of his staff, and she was |
paid accordingly.
She came into the room with the self
possessed air of the owner of the building,
took a seat, after nodding to the editor, and
laid, "well?"
LOOK here, Jennie" began that austere
Individual, ''do you wish to make a trip
to Europe?"
"That depends" said Miss Jennie; "this
p not Just the time of year that people go
10 Europe for pleasure, you know"
well, this is not exactly pleasure trip.
The truth of the matter is, Rivers has been
an a 1oh and has bunulad III fao rf,,llv no. |