Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-07-11

that did not occur to me in the first
place, but detective, in some way,
meant publicity. I have been very
anxious, II possible, to keep this mat
ter private"
"Quite right" said Mr. Ogilby.
"But naturally private detective
is an entirely different thing, and now
with my pocket full Of money, can
afford one"
WELL" said Mr.. Ogilby, "you must
let me hear from you every day. No,
do not make q note Of my address. 1t
will be easy enough for you to re-
member it, and things committed to
paper so often come into other hands"
II know that we'll enough" l said
ruefully.
Exactly, exactly It would even be
better, Mr.. Ellsworth, If you left the
envelope blank, and only addressed 1t
the moment before slipping your let
ter into the box"
He opened the door and escorted me
himself to the head Of the stairs.
When I reached the darkness of the
next landing, looked back to see him
still standing there peering after me.
/" Goodby," l said, land thanks"
"Goodby and God be with you,' said
Mr. Ogilby.
I clattered heedlessly down the
nauseous, dangerous stairs, keeping
we'll to the wall, to be sure, but quite
unmindful of their trea cherous gloom;
for now 1 had definite plan and all
the money I was likely to need, and
the brave words Of the little, old
gentleman on the top floor were still
echoing like bugle In my ears. set
my face west, and half running. half
walking, found my way back to my
hotel.
Good luck?" asked my friend, the
hotel clerk.
Yes l said, drawing out my
money. 81 want to pay my bill and
have you put half Of this in the SAFE
Put it in an envelope under your own
name, so that, If need be, you can tele-
graph it to me-"
"Going away?' he asked, as un-
startled as If my sudden wealth we're
the most natural thing in the world.
''rm not sure" said, "and for the
present I am going to keep my room.
Has any mail come for me?"
The clerk shook his head. l hardly
expected any, and turned away to
search the red telephone book for
list of detective agencies. I found sew
eral, and, with the old gentleman's ad-
vice still in my mind, committed to
memory the addresses of four or five
which struck my fancy. thought 1
would make the rounds until l found
some man I personally liked, who
seemed honest, intelligent and expe-
rienced enough to work with me and
for me- But before going out again,
stopped at the desk and repeated the
names which had chosen to the
clerk
do you know anything about any OF
these people?" asked him.
"I guess they're all of them straight
enough said the clerk. "Still after
the mysterious Slater, or are you out
for revenge"
"A little Of BOTH, answered, cor
even little of either"
WELL said the clerk. that's the
way to do 1t, providing of course that
you get a good Sherlock. These
sleuths are like everybody else, some
of them straight, some OF them
crooked. Don't be afraid to cross-ex-
anime them. BY the way, the mails
just come in. Shall I run over 1t for
you, or are you in too much of a
hurry"
mo" said, "Tll wait, but there
isn't much chance that you'll find any
thing"
In spite of my doubt found myself,
waiting very impatfently.
Here you are" the clerk said; is
this any use to you?" and he tossed
letter onto the counter.
The envelope was an ordinary one,
thumb-marked and dirty, and with
bloated distortion, as If 1t had once
been wet. 1t had been addressed to
me at Marbury, and readdressed from
there in scrawl of purple ink. AS
carefully as my excitement would
permit, I tore 1t open and pulled out
the little half-sheet it contained.
STEADY on said the clerk; what
is the matter?''
Its all right I replied "it's all
right For down at the bottom OF the
sheet. squeezed into the last bit OF
cramped space, was name / looked
for, set before another which brought
the tears singing into my eyes with
the surprise and JOY of it. with an
unbounded Thanksgiving for their
mystic and magical coupling: for /
read simply, Nancy Ellsworth
CHAPTER XVIII.
I slipped the note back into it's
envelope and into the sfse pocket OF
my coat, where kept my hand upon
It as If 1t were some sentient, pre-
cious thing that might escape me I'M
aware. was wild to read it, but i'm