Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-27

GRAND HOTEL. Rome, December q.
Dear Mr.. Randolph:
I find myself in difficult position but
I am going to take the bull by the horns
and write to YOU of certain things which
seem to me of Importance 1 trust to
your friendship and your knowledge Of my
feelings and desires toward Molly 10 ex-
cuse me If you consider that l am being
officious. You will understand when l have
exnJained that l cannot hope to make her
see the matter in it's true light; but you.
as man and her father. VIII do so. and
will comprehend that my motive Is Tor her
protection.
ing nv letter, in which 1 begged that you
would let me know In which part OF Eu,
rope Molly was travelling. ana she mas toio
me that she wrote you OF our meeting at
Pau I reached there couple of days
sooner than she and Miss Kedison did
In fact, 1 saw their arrival in the famous
automobile of whose advent INJURIES you mus nuss
lighted upon the chauffeur l felt an in
stnctive distrust of the man. and 1 have
learned through experience not to disre-
| gard the warnings of my instinct 1t has
served me more than one good turn In the
! street when the markets were wobbllng,
| Now I have been good deal chafed about
! a resemblance to Sherlock Holmes, the
| great detective of fiction, but l acknowl-
| edge and am proud of that resemblance. l
| venture to think that it is not wholly con-
| fined to externals. A certain detective in
| stinct was born in me. 1t began to show
| itself when 1 was little boy at school,
| and since then l have trained and Gull
| tivated it, as kind OF higher education
of the brain. In several instances | have
been able to expose frauds, which, but
| for the purely impersonal, scientific inter-
est l took in the affairs. might have re-
| manned undetected. In these experiments
have made enemies of course; but what
| matter?
The interest feel in the case I am about
to lay bare to you is not, l confess. pure
ly impersonal. But 1 hope under the cir
cumStances you will think none the less
| of me for that.
My first distant glimpse of the man
| Brown created as have said, an unfavor-
| able impression upon my mind | thought
| that he had a staggering air of conceit
| and self-importance extremely unbecoming
in man of his class. He had the air
| of thinking himself equal TO his betters,
| which is dangerous thing in a person
| intrusted with the care of ladies. My
| impression was confirmed by some of the
tales which Molly told of her
automobile experiences not only quite
| unconscious that they initiated against
her chauffeur. but apparently be-
lieving them to his credit. be-
| gan to fear that the. fellow one
| to take advantage of the trust placed in
him by two unprotected women, who he
| doubtless has guessed to be well provided
| with money. My definite suspicious went
at first no further than this. though there
| was kind of detective premontion in my
| mind that more might remain to be found
| out. | might have confined myself to tacit
| disapproval, however or word of advice
| to Molly, and perhaps one stern warning to
| the man. had not gone into the golf club
| at Pau on our last day there To my in
| tense establishment 1 saw Brown on the links
attempting to get members to play with him
| by passing himself off as a gentleman. He
wore good clothes, and acted his part fairly
! Weil-well enough. perhaps. to deceive the
unobservant. But he is not the sort of per-
son l should ever mistake for gentleman.
l went up to him, and very quietly ordered
him off the links, threatening to expose
him publicly. But he whined for mercy,
and ], in moment of weak good nature.
let him off. on his promise to so at once. l
| inquired, however, of the steward what
name he had given on seeking admittance,
and was startled to find that he had passed
himself off as the Honorable John Winston,
| his late master and the owner of the car
which Molly is now using. As had bound
myself to keep silence | did not betray
him, but the fact just discovered confirmed
my dlStruSt of the man dangerous and
INSCRIPTIONS person.
For Mollys sake l felt that I must begin
| inVestiga tiOr, to be able in the end to
| expose Brown and let her see him in his
real character; but for several reasons not
necessary to trouble you with it was es-
Sential to proceed with extreme caution.
1t was urbearabIe to me, knowing even
the little / did know at that time of the
mans character to allow Molly and Miss
kedison to go wandering over the country
compromise them in some way. even re-
sort to blackmail. and with this danger be-
fore my mind | offered to accompany the
| ladies on their car to the Riviera. | made
the suggestion to Miss Kedson, not to
Molly. and limited to her something con-
, corning my motives. cautionng her at the
, same time that silence was vitality import
ant until l could give her leave to speak.
| You may think that l was taking a good
deal on myself; but 1 have a great regard
for you as well as an unfortunately deep
; affection for Molly, and as / have made
many intimate friends among the highest
in the land, all over the continent. as in
England felt that my presence in the car
might be especially helpful
During the first day or two of our jour-
ney l caught Brown in several audacious
lies. He was insolent to me- evidently
afraid that meant to lose him his berth.
and inclined to be so familiar with the la
dies. Molly particularly that my suspicious
Of him were reused to fever heat l began
to see that his ambitions tended higher
than /, had at first supposed-and-I hope
you will forgive my frankness-I should not
be surprised If some day before long Molly
should have a startling awakening.
1 questioned her carefully as to what
a nsI IT as nS
that according to the chauffeur. the
Hon. John Winston had returned to
and drive fa s t. hire
strange to me, and l asked myself If it
were possible that the fellow could have
| cOnIrlVeu 10 steal the car, and De using II
for his own purposes. taking the money de-
! rived from its hire for himself. One thing
which encouraged this deduction was the
| extremely low rent asked for the vehicle
and the small wages demanded by Brown
| But 1t was at Toulon that q still more sim
| lister idea was forced into my mind by
startling incident to whichI will draw your
| attention. sps
You will very likely have heard from
Molly that owing, to e-slip which might
have happened to any one in driving an
7 automobile. we had an upset by the road
side. and in common politeness / was COM
PEELED to obey Miss kedison,s request to
remain with her at small village, some
miles from Toulon, while Molly went on to
see doctor about an injury to her wrist.
Brown being her attendant When Miss
| kedison and arrived al Toulon on the car
next day, 1t was decided 10 stay the night
there rather than go on so late. I saw
Brown, who was working outside the no
tel at the automobile, take money out of
his pocket to pay man who had been
helping him with the repairs Something
small dropped on the ground as he did so.
unknown to Brown. When he had moved
away l stopped and picked it up. 1t was
French pawn ticket for pledged watch,
dated the previous night / determined,
in the interest of my Investigations, to visit
| fhs.r tlyy1hr uhia at,1 otx. Or