The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1900-01-12
A DETECTIVE
~ WHO n sav'
DETECTED
BY Philip G. Hubert, Jr.
IS Copyright. 1898
u by J.P. Lippincott Co.
CuNnncxc

/ 70 By Philip G. Hubert, Jr. or
K@s222 !, s,gy;,;s, : 9 t,ss,.s,, .sss .. 2RGaA
SYNOPSIS.
Chapter I-Seymour Is reporter on the
i New York Gazette and is given the task
| of finding a man named Danders. who
had sold to the Gazette story stolen from
| the magazine which 1t was possible, so
| far as Seymour could find out for Dam
ders to get was at the Metropolitan library.
and he started to search for. the evidence
he wanted there At the address Danders
had given when writing to the paper moth
ing was known of such man except that
/ he occasionally came there to get his mail.
The place was a saloon. and Seymour
agreed to give the bartender five dollars
| turned up again At the library Seymour
| met young lady in whom he became in
terested. He wished to know her name,
/ lar subject she was seeking information
| upon. 1t was the Spanish Inquisition, and
he looked for cards asking for books on
| was not only books upon the Spanish In
| QUESTION but the Londoner of 18aS and
/ what proved to be the young lady's name.
Chapter .He aseompanisss les the girl
| which her father has been working upon
| is manufacturer of umbrellas After an
| evening in their home he Is asked his oc-
| cupation by the girls father and, thinking
| to startle them Into some show of their
guilt, announces that he is a reporter for
| the New York Gazette, but without effect.
II
| / had not told an unblushing false.
| hood when l had said that knew q
| man who made umbrellas. To be pre-
| else, knew a man who sold umbrellas,
| for / had bought umbrellas from him,
and for aught knew he might make
| them himself or at least have them
made for him. But it was too late to
hunt him up that night. / went home
hugging that precious umbrella, her
umbrella and her work, and laidit on the
table in my little room while thought
over the situation. Within the last six
| hours the situation had altered with a
vengeance. Six hours before that
1 had been intent upon running down
the person who had victimized the Ga
zette to the extent of $100. And now !
was intent upon shielding that person,
or some one whom / supposed to be
| that person, from the results of her
misdemeanor.
At times ! could not bring myself
/ to the belief that she could be the guilty
4 one. Looking at that umbrella, her
| umbrella, her school umbrella, cudg-
eled my brains for explanations and ex-
cuses. They were rather unsophisti-
Gated people, this father and daughter,
and perhaps they had done this
wretched thing when hard pushed for
money, and without realization of its
Nervousness. Some excellent people,
women especially, saw nothing wrong
in cheating the government by SNUG
Cling in laces and gloves-rather the
contrary; they boasted to their friends
of their success. Perhaps Miss Rob-
ertson saw nothing worse in getting
the best of newspaper. Such an
achievement gave evidence of moral
bluntness which could not associate
with her; and yet--and yet-the evi-
dence was certainly against her. But
was it? After all, what did my precious
evidence amount to? 1t was not
enough to convict a professional thief,
to say nothing of this young girl. With
this comforting reflection I went to
bed, to dream that the heavens rained
fire and birthstone and that my only
defense against the downpour was that
umbrella--her umbrella.
1 AS it would be necessary to have some
sort of story ready for Miss Robert
son when met her at the library the
next morning, left my boarding house
early and stopped at the shop of my
umbrella dealer. In dozen words l
| 4.1I H.. @ba e4orx1 ox,d rhauod hin, the
umbrella. He, smiled good naturedly.
"It doesn't seem bad idea to you,
Mr.. Seymour" said he, 'but to anyone
in the trade it's absurd, for number
of reasons. In the first place, you
never could make water-tight joint
where that glass is fitted in; there
would always be leak there. If that
was not enough to damn it, people
would not carry such an umbrella, be-
cause other people would look after
them and perhaps laugh; then the
glass would prevent the umbrella being
furled up into the tight thin roll that
fashion demands; finally, no one would
pay a penny more for an umbrella with
an eye-glass in it than for one without.
If anyone wants to sell you the patent,
avoid it as you would the plague. It's
capital idea-to let alone"
There was nothing more to be said,
and walked on to the library hugging
that umbrella. With all its faults, II
was still precious. At the doors met
Miss Robertson. who had evidently
been on the watch for me.
"Well," she said, her eyes dancing
with eagerness, was your friend en-
thusiastic?" How could / dash her
hopes?
HE said it was a capital idea," l re-
piled. She saw that / was not full of
hope. "But he suggested weak points" /"
l went on. And gradually / told her
the whole story. She made a brave
show about it, but her eyes were dim
with a suspicion of tears.
"What does one mans verdict amount
toq" | said, as cheerfully as ] could.
"Probably this particular manufac-
turer is an idiot"
! "You said that he Is an intimate
friend of yours, didn't your" and there
was ghost of a smile.
"Of course" said, only too happy to
see the mist of tears disappear; but
he may be an idiot all the same"
'oh, I'm afraid not. You see, two
umbrella dealers TO whom papa spoke
said about the same thing, and declined
10 S~o sx&ka 4ha xnak4ov. ovox, IN tho av-