Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1898-05-26

Hendricks, at once, He and ! are friends,
but / have missed him round town lately
l was told at his club that he had left the
city. If you will kindly send his address to
me, | shall be greatly obliged am, dear
madam
Very sincerely yours,
FREDERICK CHAMPNEY.
'234 Union street, Brooklyn.
There seems to be nothing remarla-
bic about the note, Do you think there
is?" asked Hendricks, when he had fin.
ished.
"Not that can zee, said Miss Delmar,
deeply interested.
Rather bold thing to do, if the fel,
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 a rule"
said the detective. 'Iut haven't told
you how it came into my hands. My
mother, while very old and naturally
unsuspicious, has learned a good deal
of caution from me, especially where
anything pertains in the slightest 10 my
profession; SO she did not reply 70 the
note but sent it down here to mc. Ifen
readily into the trap set for ker. ;
could remember no one by the name o.
Champney, but fattered myself it was
one who knew me better than did him,
SO, thinking that my mothers caution
in not replying to the note had perhaps
caused the writer some Inconvenience,
| wired my address, and at the same
time wrote a cordial note of explana-
tion 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, It
was this frame of mind that caused a
very trifing circumstance to bring
back the whole thing to me,
"The letter of apology which I 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 methodical in al
most everything, had written the mum.
Der Of my room. Well, in a few days it
was returned to me marked: Not De
liyered'
This at once excited a suspicion that
something was wrong-that some de-
signing person, for reasons of his owp
had tIicked me into betraying mJ
whereabouts. The telegram had not
been returned That showed that som
one at 234 Union street, Brooklyn, ha
received it and signed for it in dut
form, or should have been advised @
his fai3ue to do 50 by the telegrap
office here. The letter addressed in tlH
same way had been returned. Tha
proved that Frederick Champney eithe
was not there or wanted me to think H.
was not, and my curiosity was reused
But as your case was Just then becom
ing more interesting, 1 put the lette
away for safe keeping, along with tn
note to my mother, to take up agcj'
when I was more at leisure, and dis
missed them from my mind. However
rs said Just now, there was somethin,
strangely familiar about the enyelop
we found at tho rag shop yesterday, an,
l could not for the life of me tell what |
could be. 1t was not until / had lcf
you and reached my hotel last nigh
that | found out 1t was simply tn
large capital d in the center Of the Ney
York postmarli, for it correspondcd eN
actly with the big d in the postmark O
the letter my mother had received
You smile. You think that a very liltl
thing. Well, so it was; but wait III
5 D indicated the station at which tb
letters were posted; they had both bee
mailed in the same postal district.
know that much you see, as a starter
but | was not satisfied. was sure Ii
two envelopes held a better clew b,
tween them. and I.was bound TO have i
Il lay awake half the night, thinking
: thinking till l got so wrought up
could not reason logically at all.
knew that would do no one any good, s
i, l banishcd thoughts of all Kinds. an
was getting into a drowsy state, in ia,
3 was almost dropping off, when suddei
ly an idea popped into my brain.
Il sprang up, lit the gas. and with N
magnifying-glass examined the lett
which had been returned to me fro
. New York marked; Not Delivered
: What do you suppose I discovered? NJ
= letter had been steamed and careful
opened,
ITo DE Continued.