The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1917-02-02

Il
| TECTIvES WRIST.
| lowed diligently upon the trail, and
the pursuit was not long, for when the
party had arrived at the little railroad
| station which is nearest to the estate
Of Sunnyside Clifford took advantage
| Of moment when he thought that no
eye was upon him, and, drawing a
letter from the suspected pocket, he
dropped 1t through a crack between
two planks of the platform. Conroy
| was surprised that the man had not
| torn the letter, and yet, of course, the
odds were enormous that It would lie
unseen forever.
There was indeed another explana-
ton, which, Conroy discovered some
hours later when he had hired youth
full native of that region to crawl IN
der the platform and secure the letter.
1t had already been torn and 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 a whole. 1t had
been mailed in London and ran as fol-
lows:
Dear Clifford-1 write this in hurry TO
catch a mail Miss NJ. is dead-and who
that has a heart will not be glad? You
that have none will rejoice in your own
way, for while she lived there was always
danger that some enemy would retell the
g I,,a
| Poor woman, poor womanl OF course
have never exaggerated your conduct.
You were engaged to her, she loved you,
you saw a chance for a rich marriage, you
| Tilted her, and the shock dethroned her
reason. That's the worst of IL 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 it. The trivial affair
which had brought him to that house
was already upon the way to a con-
clusion, for he had recognized in one
Of the footmen an old and clever Of
fender. But in any case he would
have given all 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 rascal.
Conroy descended the stairs and
found the lower part of the house de-
serted except for a few servants, for
the guests were all upon the verandas.
Passing through the dimly lighted
drawing room he came suddenly face
to faee 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 it to your father,
but guess this way will be the quick
est and for that reason the best. It's
n letter that I saw Mr.. Clifford dis
pose Of
A hand suddenly fell upon the de-
tective's wrist and voice vibrant with
wrath spoke In his ear.
$50 this Is your errand here, is It?
The robbery story is only blind, eh
You're on my trailv'
Conroy wrenched himself free of
Clifford's grip and preserved his hold
upon the letter. At the same moment
he heard Miss Hollender's voice, cold
and smooth az ice.
"Of course could not read letter
of Mr.. Clifford's under any circum-
stances" she said, "but If I did so,
whatever the contents might be,
could not know him better than l do
at this present instant His inference
IN regard to your business here, Mr.
Conroy. will DC all that shall require
That owe to you, and thank you
heartily"