Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-02-17
The Daily Story
THE GIRL WITH TITAN HAIR-BY WILLIAM cHANDrrp
Copyrighted.

away alter nau Ieft the room !
remained In my new quarters -.
few minutes. when, taking the -
with me. ] went out to my -. eSa
and asked him to deposit II wifi ~
other articles-I had made 49,
of all-in his safe.
now felt better about the s,.u..
for could take my own tims - ~
the return Of the brooch and cou,d ~
see that there was any ev,S.-.t
against me that could be mada 800
BILE by the thief. At any rate
ready to take the risk of becorn;n- 3
volyed, and cince the property es-,
not be found on me and I could &c.
lish my respectful ility I had NOT mn.
to fear.
/ did not return to my hotel till en-.
ing and went at once to bed -.
next morning / lounged about the !.
tel. keeping my ears open for =.
word about stolen property, but bs,,s
nothing and did not dare ask anr a..
tons lest my showing a knowlede. !.
the loss should impHcate me. VIII.
was in the reading and writing ~
of the hotel saw my American fr,s,s.
come downstairs ready to 20 ont m.
father had long conference with ~.
landlord, which, with other evida,..
L possessed, tended to the theory th,,
the brooch in my possession beIonevs
to the formers daughter. He left n,
landlord. saying loud enough for NJ
to hear. you may offer 10000 frsnr,-
This settled the matter with me !,
occurred to me to make a confesxor
then and there, but before I eorls
bring myself TO do so the four mem.
bers of the family left the hotel =.
tered a cab. and. since went out al.
rectly behind them, l heard the rerta
man direct the driver to take them N
the baths of CaracaIla.
Turning into the Corso Umberto
walked to the Piazza Colonna. sns
taking a seat at one of the sidewsIE
restaurants to be found there, csIes
for liter of wine and, slipping and
smoking, bethought myself what ner
to do. After making up my mind
returned to the hotel, looked az the
register and saw the names Edward
r. Larned. Mrs. Larned, Miss Lsrpa
and Ned Larned. Going to nv room. Il
wrote to Mr.. Larned, stating that
a valuable brooch had come into mr.
possession which l believed had been
stolen. A hair had chung to it ofa
peculiar shade. / had noticed the
shade of hair of the young lady be-
longing to his party. and since the one
clinging to the brooch appeared to be
Of the same hue / suspected that both
might be hers. If he would inform
me that my surmise was correct |
should be happy to restore the lost az
ticle.
1 fattered myself that I had the ad-
vantage of the gentleman in not ask.
ing him to prove property. took ny
note down to the landlord for delivery.
then left the hotel and did not return
to it till after IL O'Clock the same
night
/ found Mr.. Larned up waiting for
me. 1 bad no sooner entered the hots
than the landlord pointed me out to
him, and, approaching me, he told me
that he had received my note and that
my surmise was correct. His daugh-
ter had left the brooch in her room
without locking it in her trunk, as was
their custom with their valuables, and
1t had doubtless been stolen by serv.
ant. told him that 1 was very happy
to be able TO restore the lost property,
but could not do so till the next day
since I had taken it to my bankg
for safe keeping. He stammera
about having offered re
ward, but I pretended not TO hear hin
md, telling him that would meet hin }
with the brooch in the reading room
he next day at noon, we went up 70
Dur respective rooms in the same ele-
7ator
When I delivered the brooch the
lext day Mr.. Larned said that MS
laughter desired an opportunity 10
hank me for returning it, and be ID
7ited me to lunch with his family
s needless to say that accepted tne
invitation and received charming
mile from the young lady as wen as
Ter thanks.
How lucky" she said, "that one o.
ny hairs chung to the brooch. Hae
lot been so / presume l would n0'
ave recovered my property
She evidently did not consider tnal
was my bounden duty on nnoius
he brooch to turn it over to the iah'
ord, and I did not enlighten her.
II had remarked" / said, the slmr
arity of your hair to that in Tiuans
ortraits, and since the single hair wa
be same / was sure the property "@
ours
Have you the hair with your
II have not"
II should like to see ii.
81 shall be pleased 10 show II 70 ~
ut you must remember that re"s's
sualIy goes with restored properly
/ knew that she understood. fo'
ropped her eyes. and when she sp''
gain she changed the subject.
That was how I secured an NJ
uction TO the American girl ana ~
found my wife. for after trasena'
sveral months in company we re'''
! TO America engaged
TT ~ - A x1eficSQ