The Press., 1912-09-11

something was wrong in the case, and,
 remembering that my chief had taken
 1t from private parties. doubts would
 constantly be coming up as to whether
 I was on a profitable hunt or whether
 I would catch a tarter.
 However, resolved to remain on
 the train till and the woman reached
 Philadelphia, and from Pittsburgh tele-
 graphed the chief to have some one in
 that city to shadow the lady to her
 stopping place, for it was plain that it would not do for me to follow her.
 Meanwhile on the way, fearing she
 would elude me by getting off the
 train, never let her out of my sight a
 moment In fact, did not close my eyes during the night of the journey.
 The $1O,OOO was to earn was quite
 enough to keep them open. Our train should have reached Phil adelphia early in the morning, but a delay had thrown us three hours be- hind time. Between two cities at the eastern part of our journey the train
 made no stop for more than an hour.
 We were running very fast to make up time, and. not being able to think of any way Miss Vane could get off the train, even if she wished to, and being very sleepy after my nights vigil, I permitted myself to drop into doZe. a.-t ...
 From a doZe must have sunk to sleep, for when I awoke forty min- utes had elapsed. Naturally I looked to make sure my quarry was still present.
 She was not in the car.
 went at once to the saloon and tried the door. It was unlocked. No one was within. went through the train, looking into every seat, every corner Miss Vane was not to be found. asked the conductor if we had made any stop during the period I had been asleep. He replied in the negative.
 I shuddered. The woman, driven to despair. must have jumped off the train.
 That was the last I saw of Miss Vane, at least for more than a year. l watched the newspapers with a view to finding information of body of woman having been found on the line of the railroad I had travelled on, but never saw any such mention. 1 did not stop at Philadelphia. going right on to New York. where I re- ported the strange case to my chief. He was ve-y cool to me. blaming me for having gone to sleep and saying that the train had doubtless slowed up going through a town and the wo- man had jumped off.
 Some fourteen months after this mysterious disappearance I saw a no tice in the society columns of news paper that Henry Gregory of Chicago would the next day marry Ihiss Edith Vinton, a New York heiress. Curiosi- ty led me to the church where the ceremony was performed. and who should the bride be but my quarry.
 was not long in getting an eXplana- tiOn. The party who had given us the case was an uncle of the lady. He had succeeded i'll having her placed in l a retreat as feeble minded i'll order to l retain possession of her fortune. he l being the administrator of her estate. | She had escAped and in order to dodge those he employed to catch her had I passed under various names. The chief | was deceived in the premises by the ! taking the case without | the proper information.
 As to the lady's disappearance from | the train, 1t was done in this wise: ! Passing through a town, our train l at a good rate of speed be- | side another going the same way. l Miss Vintor, confident that was after | her to return her to the retreat she went to the rear door of the | car without being observed and passed | out on to the platform. At the mo- ment the two trains were moving at equal speed. Then her own train be gan to gain on the other. but very | slowly. When two platforms came to- gether she bravely stepped aboard the other train.
 ms information 1 got from the Iaeiy herself. for called on her husband aud told him of my efforts to make an Mr- rest of Miss Vincent before she be came Mrs. Gregory under a misappre- tension of the facts. I apologized through him and begged him to permit me to apologize directly to his wife. He promised to secure me this permis- sion. if possible. and after time sent ne an invitation. After had explain ed my connection with the matter l asked her how she had escaped and 'eceived the explanation given above
 "I could never have done it'' she | 'aid. except that was sure you were to take me back to that 1-eadful imprisonment
 Ehe was then in possession of large 'orIune.