The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1905-07-21

Rruee was amazed. In full view, On .
mt too crowded street, then gone' IL
was like magic. The man could no1
have entered q store nor vanished III
n cellar. There was no reason why ne
need think himself under surveillance.
Bruce spent the day in the immediate
neighborhood of the mysterious dlsap-
pearance, but to no purpose, and at
last he reluctantly owned to himselr
that he might have been mistaken.
Anxious as he was to succeed In
his undertaking, and earn the reward
offered for finding Hamilton, or rather
being the means of returning MIN 10
| Grovedale, Bruce was at last COM
peled to desist from his task. Mucn
| time and money had already been
spent, and other business was press
ing.
Constance still continued to live IN
! her own home with her uncle and two
children. The latter went to schooi,
and their mother put on their hats and
kissed them good-by, sometimes with
| smile on her face, to spare their
young hearts too much knowledge OF
sorrow. Mr.. Carter, who was really a
| man of excellent business qualities,
though somewhat obscured by middle
age inertia, attended well to the bust
ness at the mill with the help Of Mr..
| Henderson and a clerk recently added
! to the office. At the bank an excellent
cashier filled Hamilton's place for the
present, but it was uncertain how long
he could be retained, as his health
was delicate and his means such as
placed him above the necessity OF Co
ing any business.
Tony was still there, but his position
seemed at times most irksOme. The
strain on his nerves and temper dur
ing the investigations left an unpleas-
ant impression, for he was sensible
that for several days he had been
looked upon with suspicion. This fact
placed him in sympathy with Hamil-
ton, and he had more than once been
heard to say that he believed the
missing cashier to be an innocent.
man.
He had been informed by President
Hastings of Bruce's discoveries in the
West. He had not called to see Mrs.
Hamilton since he carried her the
ominous statement of her husbands
return to the bank. Somehow he
shrank from going there, but when hei
CHANGED to meet her he bowed with
scrupulous gravity and respect.
The summer was wearing away.
August had come with its whiting days.
and bathers often sought the shaded
river for a plunge in its cooling wat
ers. On the other side new railroad
had recently been built. The billy por-
tons had been leveled, hollows filed
up, and immense rocks blasted. Hun
dreds of men were employed, and the
different gangs were located about five
miles apart. Many of them were
Italians, and four of them were
drowned in crossing it in quest OF in
toxicants, and it is said they were
buried in the dump, uncoffined, and
without service of any sort, by their
companions. Low and degraded they
must have been, and 1t is no wonder
the people were glad when they. left
All this occurred to Osborn one day
in August, when, changing his bathing
suit for his ordinary clothes, he saw in
the pushed, not two feet from the
place where he had deposited his own
suit, a silk cap with weather-stained
satin lining and an embroidered mono
gram.
The letters certainly were V. c. H.,
however they might stand in color
The c. or the H. was as likely to
stand first, perhaps, but Tony felt con-
vinced that the cap he held in his
hand was once the property of Vane
Hamilton.
1t was just such a one as WIVES
sweethearts and daughters make for
their masculine dependents to travel
in. and Tony thought he recollected
that Mr.. Hamilton carried one in his
overcoat pocket. His wife would know
and whether he took it on his last
trip. If so, it proved his presence
afterwards in Grovedale as conclusive
" as the gold shirtstud had. 1t was a
peculiar coincidence that in 10th in
stances he should be the finder.
Ito be continued.)