Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1907-10-10

| resign, the authorities were unable TIC
prevent him blossoming forth as an
advertising private inquiry agent.
He had been recommended to Sir
Mark by the family solicitors, who
had previously employed him, and had
found him smart and successful. Mr..
Hank had taken up the inquiry en-
trusted to him by Sir Mark Bretting-
ham with enthusiasm, firstly because
his client was a man of vast wealth.
and secondly because it was delicate
family matter, and the knowledge OBJ
tanned in the course of the investiga-
ton might be exceedingly useful later
on.
Mr.. Hank, gentleman with close
cropped brown beard sprinkled with
gray, bowed politely to Sir Mark as he
entered the library of Drycott Hall,
and with a quiet, professional cough
drew notebook from his pocket.
''Sir Mark he said, Il have not
! written you since our last interview
| because had no solid facts to lay be-
fore you. To-day I am, however, in a
position to inform you that my task
is at an end"
you have traced my son? He is
dead?''
81 have traced your son, Sir Mark
he is alive"
The barOnet reeled as from blow
But he recovered himself with an eff
fort
you are absolutely sure?"
| Absolutely. There is not a single
flaw. Let me briefly tell you what
have done. With the information you
gave me 1 started first at the work
house at which your wife died. That
was clue. With considerable trouble
| was able to trace her from casual
/ ward to casual ward by the name She
| had assumed in England-Mary Will
sOn-the name by which she was reg
| istered on the books of the workhouse
in which she died, until she confessed
her real one. You are aware that
every tramp is duly entered in the
books, and has to state the place at
which he or she slept the previous
night. They do not always tell the
truth, but they cannot have tramped
very far in a day"
| Eyes, yes; go on"
Furnished with the dates of this
! registration at the various work
| houses, it is not a difficult task to find
! every one through which they have
| passed. Eventually I traced Mary
| Wilson to a workhouse in Warwick
! shire, where she arrived on Oct. 81 of
| the year she died. In all the places
| up to this date she had no child with
| her. But on Sept. 10 she was register
| ed at house about fifty miles distant
| with child. Therefore l had presum-
| ably arrived at the week in which she
| slept in the barn where she left her
child. The farm house, | conjectured,
would be somewhere on the main road
| between the two warehouses;"
"Ah, you are keeping me in sus-
pense! Tell me the worst at once!"
Il must give you the facts. Sir
| Mark. The period being fixed and the
| area defined, I set to work to make ex-
/ haustive inquiries. I visited dozens of
villages and scores of farmhouses.
Eventually | was successful found
| the farm. The farmer whose wife. it
| seems, had taken pity on the tramp's
deserted baby was alive l told him
was making inquiries on behalf of a
relative, and begged him to give me
any information he could"
You did not mention my name?"
said Sir Mark, anxiously.
mo"
"And the farmer told you"
THAT he had brought the boy up
and treated him as If he'd been his
own. He was a bright, clever lad
said the farmer, but he turned out a
villain. When he was twenty, and
might have been of some use to me
and have repaid us for our kindness,
he robbed me of a large sum of money
and ran away
And you know nothing more of
him?' I asked.
I didn't hear of him again until I
saw his name in the papers. He was
being tried for robbery 1t seems he
had enlisted and had robbed an Off
Ger. | went to the trial to see if the
prisoner John Wilson was the boy who
ran away from me, and I found that
he was. He was sentenced to a term
of penal servitude.''
Mr.. Hank looked up from his notes.
The baronet's face was deadly white.
You are i'll, Sir Mark" exclaimed
the detective. Shall call for as
sistance? Can l find the brandy?"
mo, no." gasped the unhappy man.
Go on. He was sentenced to penal
| servitude, and now"
"And now, Sir Mark, he is in Lon
! don, waiting to see you"
The baronet started to his feet I'm
London-waiting He has served his
time, them"
"No-he has escaped. I assisted
| him."
''You-you? I don't understand.
Why did you do this?"
Sir Mark, I saw that there was only
one thing to be done, and did it. You
| told me that you wished to know the
truth in case of anything happening to
you. Free, can have your son identi-
fed to your satisfaction. In a convict
prison that would have been impossi-
bic. You could not have visited him
except in the presence of a warder
No one could. The only way in which
you could satisfy yourself was by see