Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-12-15

hensive.
THE Japanese got It." added orme.
ruefully. That she had the right TO
this information 1t occurred to
him to question.
The girl stood rigidly. Whatever
shall l do now?" she whispered. my
poor fatheri"
She looked helplessly at Orme. His
self-possession had returned, and as
he urged her to a chair, he con-
demned himself for not guessing how
serious the loss of the bill must be to
her. "Sit down." he said. Perhaps l
can help. But you see, l know so lit
tie of what it all means. Tell me
everything you can"
With a sigh, she sank into the chair.
Orme stood before her, waiting.
THAT bill tells, if / am not mis-
TAKEN" she said. YEARLY. where GER
tain papers have been hidden. My IA
Their is Ill at u place in the country.
He must have those papers before
midnight tomorrow, Or" Tears
came into her eyes. Orme would
have given much for the right to COM
fort her. 80 much depends upon
finding Them" she added-"more ven
than l can begin to tell you"
LET me help" said Orme, eager to
follow those papers all over Chicago,
If only 1t would serve her. Hear my
story first" Rapidly he recounted the
adventures of the evening. She lis
tened, eyes intent, nodding In recog-
milton Of his description OF Poritol and
Alcatrante. When he came to the
account of the fight in the porter's Of
fee and spoke of the Japanese with
the scar on his forehead, she inter
rupted.
ooh! That was Maku," she ex-
claimed.
"Maku?"
"Our butler. He must have over
heard my father and me-"
Then he knew the value of the pa
pers?"
"He must have. / am sorry, Mr..
Orme, that you have been SO roughly
used"
THAT doesn't matter" he said.
"They didn't hurt me in the least.
And now, what is your story? How
did you get on the trail of the bill?"
I'VE came back from the east a few
days ago." she began. my father had
to undergo a slight operation, and he
wished to have it performed by his
friend, DR.. Allison, who lives here, SO
we went to our home in-one of the
northern suburbs.
Father could not go back east as
soon as he had expected to, and he
had the papers sent to him, by spe'
cial arrangement with the-with the
other parties to the contract. Mr.,
Poritol followed us from the east. l.
we had known him there. He was al
ways amusing company; we never
took him seriously. He had business
here, he said; but on the first day Of
his arrival he came out to call on us
The next night our house was entered
by a burglar. Besides the papers, only
a few things were taken"
"Poritol?" exclaimed Orme, incredu
lousy.
"It happened that a Chicago detect
i've had been In our village on bust
ness during the day." she went. "Ht
had recognized on the streets a well
known thief, named Walsh. When We
reported the burglary the detective
remembered seeing Walsh, ant
hunted him out and arrested him. Il
his pockets was some jewelry belong
ing to me, and in his room the othe,
stolen articles were found-everythinl
except the papers,"
"Did you tell the police about thu
papers?"
mo, 1t seemed wiser not to. The.
were in a sealed envelope with--witl
my fathers name on It, and woul'
surely have been returned, If foun'
with the other things. There are res
sons why they would have-would tr.
to please my father. We did not lie
them know that an envelope contain
ing something of value had not bee,
! recovered, and told them to make
thorough search.
} "The afternoon after the burglar
: the news Of Walsh's arrest was tele
phoned out to us from Chicago.
talked with my father, who was nc
well enough to leave the house, an
it seemed best that some one shout
l go to the county Jail and see Walls
l and try to get the papers. My fathe
had reasons for not wishing the los
4 to become known. Only he and
, were acquainted with the contents {
the envelope; so I insisted on goin
to Chicago and interviewing th
burglar"
She laughed, intercepting Orme'
admiring look. ooh, it was cas-
enough. I planned to take our Law
yer as an escort"
3 did your"
0 mo, and that is where my trouble
3 really began. Just as I was preparin
to go, Mr.. Poritol called. / had TO
gotten that we had asked him out fl
an afternoon of golf. He is such
funny player.
"As soon as I told him l was goin
to the Chicago Jail to interview
r burglar about some stolen goods,
insisted on acting as escort. He ws
q SO amusingly persistent that I final
3 agreed. We set out for the city in n
car, not waiting to take a train.
when we reached the jail l pr
r scented a letter which my father he
written, and the officials agreed to l
n me have a private interview wit
/ Walsh"
Orme opened his eyes. The girl
father must have considerable inf
d ence.