The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1898-04-28
nearly crazy With forebodings, but now

Il am sure do, almost. She laughed.
II wonder IL Mr.. Hendricks can have
discovered anything more2 Here he
comes now. | heard the gate click. Let
me admit him."
She went TO the door, and in mo-
lnent entered with the detective.
"He knows something new" she sara.
laughingly. TO her lover. 81 can see it
in his eyes"
You certainly don't seem so per-
picked as you did when left you yester-
day" said WILDLY. as he cordially shook
hands.
"a little nearer, that's ALL" was the
reply of the detective. as he sat down
and took out the envelope they had
found at the shop of the rag dealer
you know" he went on to Whi1by.
II said yesterday that there was some
thing familiar about this envelope that
I couldn't make out. Well last night.
as was studying over IL. this large ID
in the center of the postmarll suddenly
recalled an incident TO my mind. and
must relate IL TO you. so that you can
follow certain chain of circumstances
in which ami interested and which may
lead us 10 something definite.
Three days after had been detained
down here by the murder. my mother,
who lives with me in New York. received
letter. Here it is. Twill read il to You:
Dear Madam
" An important business matter makes
II necessary to wire your son. Mr.. Minari
Hendricks, at once. He and are friends
i mi g.l
] was told al his club that he had left the
city. II you viii kindly send his address TO
me me l shall be greatly obliged. ! am, dear
Very sincerely yours.
FREDERICK CHAMPNEY
'23i Union street. Brooklyn.
There seems to be nothing remarkn-
bic about the note. Do you think there
is!' asked Hendricks, when he had fin
ished.
Not that can see" said Miss Delmar.
deeply interested.
Rather bold thing TO do. if the fell
low that wrote it wanted to steer clear
of you, l should think" WILDLY re
marked
The bold things are the very ones
we are less likely to suspect, as rule" {"
said the detective. "But haven't told
you how it came into my hands. NV
mother, while very old and naturally
nnsuspicious, has learned good deal
of caution from me, especially where
anything pertains in the slightest 10 nv
profession; so she did not reply to the
note but sent it down here 10 me. fell
readily into the trap set for her. /
could remember no one by the name of
Champney. but flattered myself it was
one who knew me better than did him:
so, thinking that my mothers aaution
in not replying to the note had perhaps
caused the writer some inconvenience.
/ wired my address, and at the same
time wrote n cordial note of explana-
ton and apology, which / mailed to the
address given.
The matter might then have escaped
my memory. If the note had not left a
sort of uneasy impression on my mind
that | might suddenly be called to New
York, and. as | was deeply interested
in this case, dreaded interruption. II
was this frame of mind that caused n
very trifling circumstance to bring
back the whole thing to me.
The letter of apology which / had
sent after the telegram happened to be
put IN an envelope bearing the business
card of my hotel in this city, under
which, being rather metbodical in al
most everything, / had written the num-
Der OF my room. Well, in few DAYS il
was returned to me marked: Not De-
livered.'
This at once excited suspicion that
something was wrong-that some de-
signing person. for reasons of his own.
had tricked me into betraying nv
whereabouts. The telegram had not
been returned. That showed that some
one at 23l Union street, Brooklyn, had
received it and signed for il in due
form, or ! should have been advised of
his failure to do so by the telegraph
office here. The letter addressed in the
same way had been returned. That
proved that Frederick Champney either
was not there or wanted me TO think he
was not, and my curiosity was reused.
But. as your case was just then becom-
ing more interesting, l put the letter
away for safe keeping, along with the
note to my mother, to take up again
when i was more at leisure, and dis
missed them from my mind However.
as | said just now, there was something
strangely familiar about the envelope
we found at the rag shop yesterday, and
! could not for the life of me tell what it
could be. 1t was not until / had left
you aud reached my hotel last night
that / found out 1t was simply the
large capital ID in the center of the New
York postmark, for it corresponded ex-
actly with the big ID in the postmarx of
the letter my mother had received.
You smile. You think that very little
thing. Well, so it was; but wait. The
ID indicated the station at which the
letters were posted; they had both been
mailed ia the same postal district. ]
know that much, you see, as starter;
but ! was not satisfied. | was sure the
two envelopes held better clew be-
tween them, and was bound to have it.
81 lay awake half the night. thinking,
thinking. till | got so wrought up ]
could not reason logically at all. /
knew that would do no one any good, so
! banished thoughts of all kinds, and
was getting into drowsy state, in fact
was almost dropping off. when sudden
ly an idea popped into my brain.
II sprang up. lit the gas, and with my
magnifying-glass examined the letter