The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-01-19
VII,
THE COUNT REPORTED FOUND,

N hAV ~ eAsSNASSt
In the correctness Of his own reading O
a mystery without, In some measure
becoming infected, did not agree will
my young detective, | could not per
suade myself that my dear father
whom | loved and respected with all my
heart, could possibly he In London and
enjoying, as was obviously the case, a,
least a certain degree Of liberty, with
out using that liberty to write or wire
TO his wife In order to relieve the anx'
iety from which he must know she
would be suffering, 1t would not DO like
father, Why should he do III
"Because, said Borofsky, In effect,
.'he hasn't, He has written, and the let
ter has miscarried or has been inter
cepted."
"By whoms" | asked,
Borofsky shrugged his shoulders,
"If we knew that, no enid, ''there
would no longer be any mystery, 1t
may have simply miscarried. The chap
ter Of accidents Ia a long n In Russia,
al You know, and must always be reck
oned with"
"But we can't get over the fact that
Percy saw this man In London and said
that, though he looked like father, he
was dressed $3.50 ~funnily, and In fact
to put II quite piainly-that he look.
cd a downright bounder, which my dear
father could never possibly dor
"Disguises do wondersl' said Borof.
sky, shrugging his shoulders,
"But why should he DO disguised''
Ipersisted.
Why has he gone away Why has
all this happened, and howl Tell me
that. and III tell you the restl" laughed
Borofsky Enough that we have a
coed scent here, and, besides, another
old trail that may one day be taken up
again at Erinofka,"
All this certainly deeply interested II
II did not actually convince me that
the man Percy met In Oxford street wal
my father and no other. Then 1t occur.
red to Borofsky that 1t would DO we'll II
one, at least, Of our little hunting party
Of three were to take up his post In
London In the hope Of meeting with
this mysterious parsonage, whether "a
ther or ONE "a else.
"You are the right n to co., said
Dorofsky, wagging his head at me, "for
you would DO less likely to DO the vic,
tim OF mistaken identity II would be
useless for me to 20 because, unfortu'
nately, the count Ia a stranger to me,
and ! should not know him II | saw
him And az for this gentleman
Percy-''ho might. Of course, be do.
solved. not being a son Of the count"
~ don't think ! should, all the
same, said Percy,
~ cant possibly leave my mother,
| put In, ''for some little while at all
events am sure Percy knows my ia.
ther we'll enough not to mistake him
for any n else II he gets q real good
look at him, and perhaps a talk az we'll,
Would you mind undertaking the job,
Percy I"
"Of course not, Percy scotsed. III
you think III do" he added, "What
DO you think, Mr.. Borofsky
you'll do well enough. said Borof-
sky, ''lf u friend here cannot see his
way to goin" Are you anything Of a
photographer" he added unexpectedly
"Only with a little snap shot ma.
chine, laughed Percy, "WhyY Am !
70 photograph all the suspicious people
! aeeY'
"Not quite that, but II you should
meet the count or this individual You
consider so marvelously like him and
could get a snap shot at him you might
send Us over a copy and the countess or
Count Boris could easily identify or
yepudiate the gentleman AZ per portrait,
That would save u great deal of trou,
bic, for though you might make a mis-,
take they could scarcely do so, Thus
when your print arrived we should be
able ~ aay at ONCE This IL the count,
We baVe found him, Or, This Is some
n else aud MI, Percy may return to
help MS look elsewhere for the count,
Percy lapghd,
"Well, " he said, I'm take my hand
camera any way, It's only a tiny thing
NJ best, Thoughts 50 don't expect much
yesnlt, And IL I'm arrested by the city
police for taking snap shots at innocent
persons ! shall expect you to come and
bail me outl' Which favor we prom,
ised Percy should not be denied him in
case OF need,
Then WI dispatched Percy by train,
bidding him wire to rs Immediately in
case no should meet with any kind of
success, and warning him above all, If
ever he caught sight of the man-father
0y another-whom he had seen on a
FORMER occasion, 10 make sure of his ad,
dress by following him, and il possible
70 watch pF have the place watched IN,
VII We should have had an opportunity
OF seeing the portrait and, perhaps,
even al running over TO London to see
tho original himself
dom think Percy was very sanguine
q TO his mission and the chances Of see
Inc his former friend again, 1t would
~ tho MaFest AHke II he did, he said,
Qns miaht m well search for q grain Of
In tho pravarhial saekfHl Of chat
Rafnno WA Ia1t tina stati0n tha i1aa M