The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-18
The
Lost Heiress

NHiOH a stIip OF White metal DedIlhS
the black lettered words County Po-
Ice" proclaimed my calling to the
world. 1t was o'clock at night and
from in the morning I had been on
my feet, controlling inquisitive sight
seers, helping the men with drags and
generally superintendent the search in
the mill stream for Miss Viola's body.
Ours was only a little cot, with the
front door opening straight into the
living room from the path that split
the cabbage patch in two. My wife,
dear soul, cried out when she saw how
tired / was, and jumping up from the
table where she sewing, took my he'll
met and deftly unfastened my belt.
You're almost played out, William"
she purred at me. "Tll have supper on
the table in a iiffey. she amt found,
I suppose, or you'd have told?"
No" replied, "she amt found Su-
san. And there's a longer head than
mine on the job now that says she
never will be found-leastways not
where we've been looki~ for her.
The little woman hustled off to the
kitchen, and by the time had got my
boots off and my slippers on the rash
ers were sizzling in front of me. The
lations. even when the principal young
cry list. If you've got a wife like my
Sue. 1t wasn't only that she was the
best of housekeepers. Though / never
let on to anybody, least of all to her.
she was really a sort of partner sup
plying the brains while / supplied the
muscle. Many is the scrape she has
saved me from when I wanted to run
in the wrong chap on what I thought
was clear evidence; many a time has
ct rfr~ . - al L.. he, Nfsays
Of robbed hen roosts when l couldn't
find the ghost of a clew.
But this case that had been occupy
ing me for so many hours was differ
ent from the petty larcenies and
DRINKS that made up my common
round and daily task. On the previous
day Miss Viola Dickinson. only daugh-
ter and heiress OF old Peter Dickinson.
the retired millionaire and iron master
up at the Grange, had disappeared
from the face of the earth, leaving be-
hind however. a tolera BILE clear indiea-
ton OF her whereab bouts. as ii seemed to
me. in a sunshade that was found
floating in the mill stream. Seeing that
there had been trouble between her
and her father about young DR.. Gray. /
think that ninety-nine village consta-
bles out OF a hundred would have
jumped at the same conclusion as /
did-that she had drowned herself for
love
And whose might this long head be,
that's so cocksure you're wrong?' she
asked, when ! had satisfied my hunger
and lit my pipe. The superintendent
from RockingtOn. I reCkOn?"
The super is of the same mind as
am" l replied. No it's greater
than he-a Mr.. Radford Shone from
London. Mr.. Dickinson telegraphed
for him this morning. and he's been
making inquiries all the afternoon. ]
never heard of him before, but they
tell me he's a masterpiece at clearing
up mysteries"
Private detective?" snorted Sue
contemptuously. Low fellows, and
most of EN- humbugs"
Now. the butler at the Grange has
painted such a glowing picture of Mr.
ShOnes doings and he had given
gme the impression Of being such very
very superior person, that l felt bound
10 take up the cudgels in his behalf
He doesn't call himself private
detective, but an investigator and ar
expert in crime" / answered meekly.
Same thing" snapped my better
half. Never mind what he calls him
self. Tell me what he's done"
He has ferreted out that DIR. Gray
was away up in London all yester.
day and he says that Miss Viola ISM
dead at all. but that she ran away OF
her own accord to join the doctor and
get married-after chucking her para
sol into the stream as a blind I re-
piled.
Ny wife. who had resumed her sew.
ing, poised her needle in the air and
stared at me, speechless for fully Z
quarter of a minute. But though hei
eyes were on my face they seemed
quite blank. as if they were lookins
inward. 1 couldn't rightly read wheth
er she agreed with Shone's view oil
mine. or whether she had started on,
of her own.
Then she put down the forck sh,
was making for our little Gertie. asleeI
upstairs, and folded her hands in from
of her on the table. Il want to know
all about it-right from the beginning.
she said. Especially how this Mr.
Shone went to work, and how he camt
10 form his opinion"
To some extent I had to go over oil,
ground, for, of course, she wa
aware Of what had happened up 10 m.
going to bed very late the night before
on the morning of the previous da.
Miss Viola had left the Grange at 1
o'clock. after telling her father that sh
was going to call on Mrs. Vince at tn
mill, who was ailing. She had starte,
off with basket OF things. apparent
" in high spirits. but at lunch she ha,
not returned, and after waiting al
hour Mr.. Dickinson had sent down L
the mill to see if she was still there
The messenger had returned with tn
news that she had not been there a
all.
Old Peter Dickinson. kind hearter
but short tempered, had fumed an,
fretted Tor another hour, and had sen
all his male servants, stablemer
grooms. and all. out to scout the coun
try. At o'clock. just as IL was gettin
dark. one Of the men had come bacl
with the sunshade. which he had dis
covered in the stream, stuck in som
rushes about 300 yards below the mil
A. that / had been at once sent fol
but from the lateness of the hour an
lack OF daylight il was little that
could do beyond calling at the mill an
ascertaining from Vince. the miller
that Miss Viola had never reache
there His missis. he said, who wa
mortal bad with pleurisy. had bee
wondering why she hadn't been. Their
was no more to do but TO arrange 70
dragging the stream as soon as it &c
light, for the road from the Grange [
the mill ran alongside ii for some dis