Oxford Democrat., 1914-08-11
An Anonymous
Letter
But There Was q C3ew
In h
o. EVERETT p. CLARKE


very agreeable chap. he was not espe-
cially hnndsome. and since he paid
very little attention to girls the girls
plid very little attention to him. Such
being the case. he had very poor opin
lon of bis powers of charming the fair
sex. True. he thought little about the
matter; be simply regarded himself as
net ladies' man.
One day the postman handed Walter
Z letter that brought the surprise Of
bis life. It was postmarked and dated
at the city Of Cincinnati and signed by
one Of whom he had never heard, at
least not by the name given. The writ
er said that she was a girl nineteen
years old She had met him and had
fallen In love with him. She would
not be SO unyaidenly as to reveal her
identity. but she just couldn't help let
ting him know that there was a girl
who loved him and would never love
any one else.
There would be no chance Of his dis.
covering who she was because she had
taken every pains to prevent his doing
80. without this she would be mex.
cusable In revealing her love for him
Possibly be might meet her again. II
30 be would be at liberty to WOO her,
II, indeed, ha felt drawn to her. with.
out knowing that be had already made
a conquest
Now, II Walter Borland were con.
scious Of being heart smasher. doubt.
less he would not have been seriously
affected By this letter. As It was. be
was very much moved by It What
any girl saw In him to cause her to
give him her heart without even the
slightest courtship-for he had never
preferred uny one girl to others-he
couldn't imagine His Judgment told
him that some one was putting up
Job on him. but bis amour propre said
that It hoped the letter was genuine.
Then he fell to thinking out the prob.
lem as to who that lass might be. he
bad never lived in Cincinnati and, SO
far an he remembered. had never met
a girl who was resident Of that city
Quite likely she had posted the letter
while there temporarily or had sent It
there to I've posted II seemed to him
that she had been successful In her In
tentiou to conceal her identity. for be
could see no possible clew. And yet II
would be Just like girl to give clew
-that IL. a clcw that II would be next
to impossible for him to hit upon
He thought Of all the girls he had
ever known trying to call up some
mark OF fuvor shown him By any one
Of the number. Not Il girl Of his nc
qlaintanre had ever Indicated that she
coveted his attentions
All living beings are hunters. and
man Is the chief hunter Of them all.
though mans weapons are either intel.
lectnal or the result of intellectual &c.
ton. Rorland found himself facing q
problem. a girl had confessed that she
loved him. and be could never be salts
fed until lie had found her His first
move was to study the girls Of his &C.
1uaintance. When he met one Of them
he would scrutinize her countenance
with II view to seeing some telltale ex'
preston In II. lf be failed to meet
any one of them casually be called
upon her. Not one received him with
the slightest sign Of embarrassment
Being completely blocked In his ef'
forts. he consulted his chum. Bob Car
ter, a young nun who was supposed
to understand women. Carter put him
through an examination with view
to bringing out some indication that
had been shown by one of bis girl nc
uuaintnnces Borland mentioned
girl who had taken umbrage ut some
unintended slight he had given her.
Carter pounced upon the lady as the
writer Of the letter. When a girl takes
offense ut mans treatment Of her II
indicates that she Is sensitive to his
treatment But unfortunately this
young lady was not less than twenty
one years old. whereas the writer had
described herself as nineteen. Never.
sheless Borand applied certain tests.
all Of which failed to show any unusu
al interest In him.
Having failed to get any available
counsel from man. the young hunts.
man or. rather. the young detective
for this Is n detective story without
the pale of criminality-concluded to
try a woman. He consulted bis friend
Mrs. Cheltenham. a bride OF three
months.
mo girl" said the lady. "would write
such a confession to man without
placing It within the bounds OF possi.
bility that he should discover her
identity. She has given clew. but II
you discover 1t you will still be a long
way from discovering the girl. ]
would advise you to examine her let
ter with a microscope. II that fails
try chemicals. She may be college
girl up In chemistry"
It was evening when Borland receiv.
I'd this advice. and. going to his home,
he took out the letter. procured hand
glass of strong magnifying power and.
taking both to gas jet. brought the
glass to bear on the letter. In order to
get the best light he held the paper
within a few inches Of the fame.
Brownish letters came out written
across the face of the letter. "Month
Of roses. PIP"
Btriand would have been very stupid
had he not been able to interpret this
as June ~. 1912. Mira Cheltenbam
had hit the nail sQnarsiy on the head.
Get a woman to catch q woman"
said Boriand. "Bnt she was also right
In predicting that n I found q ciew In
the letter I would still be far from the
girl. However, whoever she Is. she ts
educated or she would not have known
that citric acid becomes brown when
heated June II. l9l2-where was l
on that day1 It was nearly a year ago.
and I doubt H I can deterlnins Just
where I was"
But Borland sat himself down 10
think. and II was not long before be
remembered that on June. 1912 10 At
tended the graduating exercises Of q
women's college. where be had been In
troduced 20 more than q dozen young