Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-09-25
Finding a
Treasure
II Puts . Gentleman Into
. Middle
By ARTHUR LANGLEY
BY ARTHUR LANGLEY

| wilkins was bored.
Throwing down a newspaper on the
| table OF the reading room of his club.
| he arose from his chair. strolied out to
the cigar stand. Lie cigarette, smoked
for q few minutes, threw away the
stump. walked to the club entrance
and stood with his hands In his peck
cts, wondering what next he should
do to kill time.
"Cab."
A vehicle was wheeled from the line
of cabs standing before the club to the
! curb opposite him, and he entered IT.
telling the jehu to drive him to the -
theater. where he intended to buy tick
cts for that evenings performance.
On the seat beside him lay lady's
hand bag. Wilkins took 1t up. looked at
1t, opened 1t and examined the con-
tents with view to discovering to
whom 1t belonged. He found them as
diversified as those In boys pocket.
but there was only one article that
gave him any hope OF identifying the
owner of the property, brown paper
parcel FIVE or six inches long, two
inches broad and an inch thick. Find
| ing no address or other mark on II, he
concluded it to be shopping purchase
an6 put 1t back In the bag. But. desir-
ing to exhaust every means of finding
a clew to the ownership. he took 1t out
| again and unrolled 1t. He found bills
to the amount Of $4,000.
i His ennui left him instantly.
Not that he felt elated at making an
accession to his fortune, for he had no
idea Of keeping his ind. but that 1t
was evident the money had been left
inadvertently In the carriage by wo-
man and there would be something for
him to do to trace her and return the
money.
| Moreover, there was daintiness
about the bag and its contents that
| caused him to fancy the owner was
/ young. Then. again. a middle aged
/ woman would not likely be so careless
4 as to leave a small fortune In cab,
+ anu pld Nlt Nodli bt Ap iAAo&E INV
/ ~ to be riding about with SO much in
her possession. At any rate. Wilkins
would have 1t that the lady was
young. and. having gone thus far. he
/ fancied she must be attractive. She
had doubtless been the last person to
occupy the cab before him. and the
| driver could tell him about her. VIII
kins put the bag and contents under
1 his coat and when he left the cab
asked the driver for information con-
corning his last fare.
wilkins was informed that she was
young lady who had been taken in
before dry goods store and had been
driven TO a bank. She had come out
| of the bank and re-entered the car
riage. ordering him to drive to another
store, where she alighted, seeming to
be Ill. She had staggered into the
store and disappeared. He had wait
ed some time for her, but as she didn't
reappear he gave up waiting for her
and drove away.
On thinking the matter over Wilkins
did not believe there would be much
hunting involved In the case. The
loss would be advertised, and all he
needed to do was to watch the per-
sonai columns in the newspapers. This
he did for week, but not seeing the
notice he expected he concluded that
either the young lady had taken other
means to recover her loss or had been
III or possibly might have died. He
inquired at police headquarters II any
such loss had been reported, but gain
ed no clew in this way. He did not
care to make known his find. for he
knew that II he did there would be
many claimants. and 1t would be diff
cult to head Off some of the more In
genius ores.
The matter dragged along till VIII
kins began to be troubled at holding
so large an amount of some other per
sons money. Then one day he con-
fded the matter to his friend Brod-
well. Brodwall said that he had seen
an advertisement Of a large amount
of money having been left in cab
but just when he had seen the notice
he couldn't remember. nor could he
recollect the newspaper in which II
had appeared
Wilkins made a search through the
newspapers issued since be had found
the money, but they were so volumi
nous that he faded to find what be
looked for. This was discouraging
He began to fear that his keeping the
money would get him into trouble
Probably the matter had been put into
the hands of detectives who might be-
on his track. He was inclined to turn
the matter over to the police. but fear.
ed his reasons for keeping It secret
would not be accepted. At any rate
he might suffer in the opinion Of the
public, who would know all about the
affair.
Being an imaginative man, he per
United himself to brood over the stu
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