Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-06-24

million.
| If Miss Marley were wicked enough
| to fulfill the theory l had formed of
| her it would be necessary 60 fight her
with fire. l dare not make any open
move whatever lest she should remove
! her niece to some hiding place where
| she could not be found | must get
into clandestine communication with
| Miss Benham,
] bought a book suitable for pres
ent to young lady, -prettily illustrat-
| ed, and sent it to her through the mail.
sent no note of explanation with IT.
| nor wrote anything on the fiyleaf, but
the book itself contained communica-
| ton. BY a delicate understanding of
| words informed her who l was, my
address, how she could reach me, what
! l had learned about her and my sus-
picion. / was doubtful Of the success
of this maneuver, for If her aunt were
watching her she would examine the
book closely before allowing her niece
to have IT. For this reason l did not
| begin my message before the fifteenth
page and made my interlineations so
faint that no one except one reading
the book would notice them.
/ waited a week for a result to my
expedient. When it came ] was sure
no ordinary message could leave the
Markley home without being carefully
inspected. The reply was an adver-
Using card of a secondhand bookstore.
/ should not have thought of it's being
reply TO my message had not the
name of the firm been UNDERSIGNED fl
pencil. / went to the bookstore ana
asked If they had any communication
for me. They said they had not
went away disappointed. and while
walking along thinking of a possible
explanation of the problem it occurred
to me that the book | had sent Miss
Markley might have been sold to the
firm In question. Returning to the
store. / asked for the book and was
delighted to be offered the very copy
had sent. 1 bought it and as 1
walked away looked for a cipher mes
sage In Il. / was not long I'm finding
dots under certain words and without
difficulty read the message.
My theory was correct. The girls
aunt, her fathers sister. was holding
her a prisoner. The writer did not
knsw why. All she knew was that
her aunt was watching her always.
She was never permitted to go out
alone and felt assured that any letter
she received or sent was opened be
fore reaching or leaving her She
might possibly run away, but she
knew not where TO go. Suspecting that
this surveillance had something 10 do
with property she bad inherited from
her father, she bad desired to get into
communication with an attorney in or
der to learn something about that
property and the terms of the will.
All was now pretty clear to me. By
the terms of the instrument Miss
Marley was to be her niece's guard
ian till she was eighteen years of age,
when the girl was TO be free 10 act
for herself and to receive her property
But if the heiress at the time should
De sneaPacitated by illness, be feeble
minded or ia any way un6tfed to care
for hep estate, she should remain I'M
der her aunts guardianship and the
property pass to Miss Marley for life.
after which other disposition should
be made OF it The heiress would
come Of age in few weeks.
1t was evident to me that Miss
Markleyis object was to keep her ward
In the background till after she was