The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1907-12-27

CHAPTER XIX.
Mr.. Hank Has an Idea.
Mr. Bertram Hank, the private in
quiry agent, had put in good hours
work in the garden of his suburban
villa preparatory to catching the ON
nibus which took him to his Office.
The detective, while preparing the.
ground for "the flowers that bloom in
the spring." had dismissed his world
ly cares from his mind. He made it
habit never to let his mind be occu-
pied by business anxieties when he
was horticulturally engaged.
Many men who have been quite in
capable of such a simple taste as
gardening have been enthusiastic flori-
culturists. Tom King, the famous
hero of a hundred fights, found his
chief delight away from the prize ring
in growing roses and taking prizes
with them at flower shows. The late
Mr.. Charles Peace, Of burglarious
fame, solaced his leisure in the inter-
walls of crime with the violin and set
of gardening tools. He had great sue
cess with his pansies.
Mr.. Bertram Hank had no violence
in his nature. He owed his success
in his calling to his diplomatic cum
ming and his fertility of resource. But
If his record had been printed in the
informing pages of who's Who" the
readers of that useful little red vol
ume would have been astonished to
find that his amusement was garden
ing"
Having finished the task he had al
lotted himself among the flower beds,
Mr.. Hank went indoors and had few
minutes chat with his wife before
starting for business.
Mrs. Hank, good looking woman
of five and-thirty, was the ideal wife
for a private detective. She never
wanted to pry into her husbands pro-
fessional secrets, she wasn't in the
least jealous, and she always accepted
the explanation of his occasional alb
sence from home without question or
demur.
Of late her husband had been un-
commonly generous to her with
money and had told her she might
spend more upon the house and upon
herself She was satisfied with his ex-
PLANTATION that business was very good
just then, and delighted to hear it.
She knew that the Every good" must
mean a really substantial improve
ment in Bertram's income, for he had
told her to buy herself anything she
fancied in the way of female finery,
and he had given her a diamond ring,
and had bought some pretty and taste
full trifles from Paris on his return
from his visit to the gay city, which
had been necessitated in the course
of an inquiry"
Mr.. Hank was indeed doing we'll
great deal better than his wife was
ever likely to imagine.
His client, Sir Mark rockingham,
Lad behaved handsomely to him in
the matter of ready cash, and still
more handsomely in the matter of
promises-and there was not much
fear of these promises remaining I'M
fulfilled.
For Bertram Hank, ex-Inspector of
Detective Police, had now a double
hold upon the wealthy owner of Dray-
colt Hall.
He knew him to be an escaped con-
vict, and he knew him to be a mar
ried man. In the former regard the
baronet held him pretty safely. So
astute a gentleman as the late John
Wilson was quite assured that it was
as much to Bertram Hanks interest
as his own that the police should new
er obtain a clue as to the identity of
Sir Mark Brettingham with the man
Of whom they were in search. But Sir
Mark, for all that was not likely to. go
back upon the understanding that had
been arrived at as Mr.. Hanks share.
In the matter OF the marriage Hank
was on safer ground. He knew the
wife. and he had been the means Of
conveying to her the intelligence Of
her husbands death. Never, perhaps,
had the words, 'I'll tell your wife!"
possessed more alarming signif-
canoe than they would have done had
Mr.. Hank used them to the new Sir
Mark Brettingham.
To get convict with a considera-
BILE portion Of his sentence unexpired