The Washington times., 1913-11-12

1 aQa, ana tney re thrown out lne same
old hints about new and important evi,
dence, and a fresh witness, and all
that bluff; but that's all it amounts to.
Will you have anything, sir?
/ "A cold bath and change, then m
off. If Mr.. Bradfield telephones I'm
| still out of town.
4 An hour later, much refreshed. Yorke
T. took himself down town to the CITY
Hall and looked up the records OF the
two addresses given in the references
4 of Mrs. Bigger.
| AS he had anticipated, they were
fictitious No. 120 Canal street had
at that period been warehouse
| owned by q nan named Meyers, ana
31S West Twenty-third street was,
| and had for four generations been,
the family residence OF JORDAN Catn-
cart.
Yorke next turned his steps toward
! New Jersey, and after a few minutes
| arrived at Broad street, Newark.
And there began for him a long,
| tiresome, despairing day Everything
had been going too smoothly with
him of late-cvery chance shot had
told, every interview been attended
| with startling results.
His progress had been miraculous.
1 1t was unheard of that he could con-
tinue to q triumphant conclusion
| without a single setback. But he felt
| the bitterness of this suddenly arisen
Il
keenly because 1t came at this time,
! when he stood on the very threshold
| of a successful denouement.
| The obstacle lay in the fact that
| the Hollinses, had they ever existed,
| seemed now to have vanished from
| the face of the earth.
! At the address on Broad street,
which they had given as theirs when
adopting the boy. a block of smart
new brick shops stood, and no one
in the neighborhood had ever even
heard their names The directory
Robert: but Yorke journeyed TO each
of them in turn.
The first was druggist the second
a retired shoe merchant, the third a
clerk. just over from London, and the
fourth a young consumptive on the
eve of his departure for the West.
From none of them did Yorke receive
the slightest assistance in his search.
Then he turned his attention to the
records in the city hall. There were
several Hollinses recorded in the birth
registry. but only one among the mar
riages of between thirty and forty
years previously. Yorke made a note
of the births. although he felt it would
be an endless and fruitless search to
work in that direction. He took also
had married Carrie Miller thirty-seven
years before, and decided as a forlorn
hope to attempt to look him up, but he
feared that after that lapse of time all
trace of him, too. would be lost.
He hired man with a runabout
from a nearby livery stable to drive
him out, for he found on inquiry that
the address of the house inquestion was
IN an >old-fashioned residential stree;
some three miles from the main busi-
ness part of the city.
He felt tired and depressed. For once
his natural buoyancy had deserted him.
He was. however. all the more logged
in his determination to follow ,his clue
to the end, convinced as he was of the
futility of it. No doubt the people who
had adopted the boy had given a flcti-
tious name as Mrs. Bigger" had done
Even had they given their true names,
they had probably migrated long since.
or lied. and"the boy might have wan
dered to the ends of the earth.
Yorke's gloomy meditations were in
terrr,pted by his driver and guide
This is the street." he said. The
house is about three blocks further
along
Thev were jogging down a broad.
PLEASANT. mapie-lined avenue. with
rrettv but unpretentious frame cottages
set back in the Towering dooryards on
either side.
They came to stop before a corner
house, large and dignified and very old.
II had been built far back from the
street. and it's white colonial pillars
tnueu Ine VISA Up the DElCK PAIN winch
cIs aved a group of towering oaks.
Telling the driver to wait. Yorke went
IN the path and rang the bell. An old
colored servant admitted him. and he
asked t. see the mistress of the house.
The woman stared at him speechlessly
fer moment, and then said in amaze-
ment:
'Lawsy! 7 guess YOU is got de wrong
house. isn't you. subj"
Wrong house? Why. isn't this 19
Ma"le avenue""
Vas. sub. il sho' is; but
But what2"
Der aint been no mistress OBJ dis
house TO- 30 yeah, suh.''
who lives here, then?' Yorke asked
in evaporation.
"Mistah Hollins, suh."
I'm looking for Mr.. Charles Hol-
Inns, who was married from this house
thirty-seven years ago to Miss Carrie
Miller"
The old negress bobbed her white |
head.
OATS him. sub. OATS my Mistah
Hollins."
And he's living here now?'
Yes. suh.'' J
And Mrs. Hollins?"
Mis- Carries been dead desc twenty |
years"
And Mr.. HoIlins has lived here alone
all this timer
mo. sun. Wen Mistah HoIlins done
married Mis- Carrie dey went to Phila- |
delphia TO live. Den Mistah Hollins ma |
died, an his pa, de ole house done been |
shet up till Mis- Carrie died, an Mistah |
Holins come on back home TO live. But |.
is you want see Mistah Hollins. suh?" |
Yes. Will you tell him. please, that !
gentleman would like to see him, who |
is looking for another person of his !
name-one who may be a relative of /!
his?"
Yes, sun ; come dis-a-way. sub"
She ushered him into large, dim |
old fashioned drawing room, and left /
him. /,
He looked about hinl-at the medal !
lion carpet, the heavy, worn velour
hangings, the white marble statuettes F..
and glass ornaments and ormolu clock |
on the mantel, the marble topped tables !
and carved walnut furniture, and he !
shook his head grimly. /
1t all breathed, IL not aristocracy, OF !
solid ancestral, bourgeois respectability I
Not OF the sort Of people who would do /
anything out Of the well-ordered, mar |
rut of their everyday lives !
Not of the sort of people who would :
take into their family and home a boy |
with a brand of infamy upon his name. /
q son of a notorious criminal.
The door opened slowly, and an elder
iy gentleman hobbled in, clad in a dress
ing-gown and leaning heavily upon a
cane He wore gold spectacles and a
skull cap, and he blinked Querulously at |
his unexpected visitor.
What can do for you, sir?" he ask
ed with grave dignity as he stood still
in the doorway.
L am SO sorry to have intrpded upon
YOU, SIR" returned Yorke. punctiliously.
.I am trying to locate a gentleman of |,