Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-02-21


lowed diligently upon the trail. and
The pursuit was not long. for when the
.arty had arrived ct the little railroad
taiion which IL nearest TO the estate
~ sunnrsiie clifford took advantage
of moment when he thought that no
eye was upon him. AMI. drawing a
letter from the suspected pocket, be
dropped II through crack between
two planks OF the platform. Cpnroy
was surprised that the man had not
torn the letter. and yet. OF course. the
odds were enormous that 1t would lie
unseen forever.
There WAS indeed another exp!ana-
ton. which Conroy discovered some
hours later when he had hired a youth
full native OF that region to crawl I'M
,ler the platform and secure the letter.
II had already been torn ard was all
In small bits inside the envelope.
An hours work In the room which
had been assigned TO him at Sunny
side sufficed for the task OF putting the
pieces together. Then Conroy pasted
them neatly upon thin paper and re-
viewed the letter as whole. II had
been mailed In London and ran as fol-
lows:
Dear Clinord--I write this in a hurry to
catch mall Miss NJ. is dead-and who
that has heart will not be giad7 You
that have rtpne viii rejoice IN your own
way, for while she lived there was always
danger that some enemy would reteil the
old story. Fifteen years Of madness!
Poor woman. poor womanl OF course 1
have never exaggerated your conduct
You were engaged TO her. she loved you.
you saw a chance for a rich marriage, you
lifted her. and the shock dethroned her
reason. That's the worst OF 1t and the
whole Of It. May God forgive you. R.
1t was now nearly 10 O'Clock, but
Conroy. armed with this weapon which
Providence had put into his hands,
could delay to use 1t. The trivial affair
which had brought him TO that house
was already upon the way to a con-
elusion. for he had recognized In one
Of the footmen mn old and clever Of
fender. But in any case he would
have given ali his thought to the more
serious matter. for surely Mr.. Hollen-
der would rather lose a few pieces Of
plate than that his daughter should
marry a rascal.
Conroy descended the stairs and
found the lower part Of the house de-
serted except for few servants. for
the guests were all upon the verandas.
Passing through the dimly lighted
drawing room he came suddenly face
to face with the object Of his search.
Miss Hollender," he said, I'm glad
to find you alone. Here's something
that you certainly ought to see Per-
haps ought to show II to your father,
but guess this way win be the quick
est and for that reason the best. It's
letter that I saw Mr.. Clifford dis
pose Of
A hand suddenly fell upon the de-
tective's wrist and a voice vibrant with
wrath spoke In his ear.
80 this Ia your errand here, II itf
The robbery story IL only q blind, eh !
You're on my trailt'
Conroy wrenched himself free of
.aArord's grip and preserved his hold
upon the letter. At the same moment
he heard Miss Hollender's voice, cold
and smooth ag ice.
"Of course could not read q letter
Of Mr.. Ciinord's under any circum-
stances" she said. but II I did 90,
whatever the contents might be,
could not know him better than l do
ut this present instant. His inference
In regard TO your business here, Mr..
Conroy, win be all that shall require.
That owe to you. and ! thank you
heartily"