The Meeker herald., 1913-09-27

dow, and be turned just before tbe1
lost sight Of each other and threw Der
4 kiss. From the moment OF his d.
pa5ture her face took on . troubled
look. bot Il was nothing compared with
The agonised expression that came over
1t when Der glance lighted on me The
start she gave led me to believe that.
ha wing seen me at the hotel and being
hunted. she had at once n
sumed that I was after her. At any
rats I did not believe that she had
been warned against me. though ~ to
this was BY no means certain.
I was sorry to be the cause Of -
much dread in an attractive girl who.
for all l surely knew to the contrary.
might be perfectly innocent OF any
But remembered bow
deceptive criminals are. what nerve
they have. and ! was puzzled to under
stand why this one gave herself away
20 plainly at the sight OF detective.
Perhaps it, was this that affected me-
Not that bad much pity. The $4,000
was to receive for Der capture coun-
teracted that But somehow every
once In awhile 1t came over me that
was wrong in the case. and.
that my chief had taken
It from private parties. doubts would
be coming up AZ to whether
I was ON a profitable hunt or whether
l would catch q tarter.
However. I resolved to remain on
the train till I and the woman reached
Philadelphia. and from Pittsburgh tele-
srapbed the chief to have some one In
that city to shadow the lady to her
stopping place. for 1t was plain that It
would not do for me to follow her.
Meanwhile on the way. fearing she
would elude me BY getting OF the
train. never let her out Of my sight
moment. In fact. I did not close my
eyes during the night Of the journey.
The $4,000 I 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 rs 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 OF
the train. even II she wished to. and
being very sleepy after my nights
vigil. ] permitted myself to drop into
a doze.
From a doze l must have sunk to
sleep. for when awoke forty min
utes had elapsed Naturally l 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. 1t was unlocked. No
one was within. went through the
train. looking into every seat, every
corner. Miss yane was not to b
found. asked the conductor II We
had made any stop during the period
I had been asleep. He replied In the
negative.
shuddered. The woman. driven to
despair. must have jumped OF the
train.
Tint was the last I saw Of Miss
vane. at least for more than a year.
1 watched the newspapers with 4
view to finding Information OF body
of woman having been found on
the line of the railroad l had Travelled
on. bpt never saw any such mention.
did not stop at Philadelphia. going
right on to New York. where / re-
ported the strange case to my chief.
He WINS very cool to me. blaming me
for having gone to sleep and saying
that the train had doubtless slowed
up going through town and the wo-
man had jumped Oh.
Some fourteen months after this
mysterious disappearance saw q mo-
tice In the society columns Of news
paper that Henry Gregory of Chicago
would the next day marry 1diss Edith
vinton. a New York heiress. Curiosl-
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-
ton. The party who had given us the
case was an uncle Of the lady. He
had succeeded in having her placed in
a retreat as feeble minded in order to
retain possession of her fortune. he
being the administrator of her estate.
She had escaped and in order to dodge
those he employed to catch her had
passed under various names. The chief
was deceived in the premises BY the
administrator taking the case without
the proper Information.
As to the iady's disappearance from
the train. 1t was done in this wise:
Passing through town. our train
steamed at a good rate Of speed be-
side another going the same way.
Miss vinton. confident that was after
her to return her to the retreat she
dreaded. 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