Wallowa County chieftain. [volume] (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911, 1909-02-18

ward for its restoration. And thought
On these six letters: NJ. A. r. H. s. N.
The first four at once pointed to a
Christian name, evidently. | said.
Math Is Mathllde. But | could make
nothing of the two last letters. SO |
threw the Journal aside and occupied
myself with other matters. Four days
later when the evening paper apnear-
ed with enormous headline aanounc-
ing the attack on Mile. Stangerson the
letters in the advertisement mechan-
ically recurred to me. hid forgotten
the two last letters, s. N. When I
saw them again / could not help ex-
claiming, Stangersonr l jumped into
cab and rushed into the bureau No.
40 asking, Have you letter addressed
to NJ. A. 7. II. S. NJ The clerk re-
piled that he had not. l insisted, beg
ged and entreated him to search. He
wanted to know II l were playing
joke. on him and then told me that he
had had letter with the initials NJ. A.
Il. II. s. N. but he had given II up
three days ago to lady who came for
1t. You come today to claim the let
ter, and the day before yesterday ar
other gentleman claimed 1t. I've had
enough Of this he concluded angrlly.
tried to question him a3 to the two
persons who had already claimed the
letter, but whether he wished to en-
trench himself behind professional Sc
crecy-he may have thought that he
had already said too much--or whether
he was disgusted at the joke that had
been played on him he would not an
swer any of my questions"
'Then 1t is almost certain" said M.
Stangerson, that my daughter did
lose the key. and that she did not tell
me of 1t, wishing to spare any anxiety.
and that she begged whoever had
found 1t to write to the poste restante.
She evidently feared that, by giving
our address. inquiries would have re-
suited that would have apprised me
Of the loss of the key. II was quite
logical. quite natural, for her to have
taken that course-for / have been
robbed once before"
where was that, and whenT asked
the police chief.
"Oh, many years ago. In America, In
Philadelphia. There We're stolen from
my laboratory the drawings of two In
ventions that might have made the
fortune of man. Not only have l
never learned who the thief was, but
have never heard even q word of the
object Of the robbery, doubtless be-
cause In order to defeat the plans of
the person who had robbed me l my
self brought these two inventions be-
fore the public and so rendered the
robbery of no avail. From that time
on l have been very careful to shut
myself In when / am at work. The
bars to these windows, the lonely stu
alton Of this pavilion, this cabinet,
'. hich had specially constructed, this
special lock, this unique key. all are
precautions against fears inspired by
a sad experience"
Most Interestingly remarked NJ.
| Dax.
| III. Rouletabllle asked about the rett
cule. Neither NJ. Stangerson nor Dad.
dy Jacques had seen 1t for several
days. bat few hours later we learned
from Mile. Stangerson herself that the
reticule had either been stolen from
her or she had lost 1t. She further
corroborated all that had passed just
as her father had stated. She had
gone to the poste restante and. on the
23d Of October, had received letter
which. she affirmed, contained nothing
but vulgar pleasantly. which she
had Immediately burned