The Dolores star., 1923-09-14
BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
Copyright Dodd. Mead q COMPANY,
Mr.. Beresford obliged.

IL.
Julius p. Hersheimmer!"
I'VE never told Mr.. Carter obout
hearing from him"
wei. there wasn't much to tell
not till We've seen him. Come on"
On inquiring for Mr.. Hersheimmer
they were at once taken up to his
suite. An impatient voice cried Come
In In answer to the page-boy's knock
and the lad stood aside to let them
pass in.
Mr.. Julius p. Hersheimmer was a
good deal younger than either Tommy
or Tuppence had pictured him. The
girl put him down as thirty-tive. He
was of middle height, and sauareIy
built to match his jaw. His face was
pugnacious but pleasant. No one
could have mistaken him for anything
but an American, though he spoke
with very little accent.
Get my note? Sit down and tell
me right away all you know about my
cousin"
Your cousin7"
"Sure thing. Jane Finn"
is sne your c0uSlnE
MY father and her mother were
brother and sister," explained Mr..
Hersheimmer meticulously.
"Oh!" cried Tuppence. "Then you
know where she is?'
mo" Mr.. HersheImmer brought
down his fist with bang on the table.
"Tm darned II dol Don't your"
"We advertised to receive informa-
tion, not to give It," said Tuppence
severely.
But Mr.. Hersheimmer seemed to
grow suddenly suspicious.
"See here" he declared. "This isn't
Sicily! No demanding ransom or
threatening to crop her ears II I re-
fuse. These are the British isles, so
quit the funny business, or I'll Just
sing out for that beautiful big British
policeman I see out there In Picca-
dilly."
Tommy hastened to explain.
eve haven't kidnapped your cousin
On the contrary. we're trying to find
her. We're employed to do So"
Mr.. Hersheimmer leant back in his
chair.
Put me WISE" he said succinctly.
Tommy fell in with this demand in
so far as he gave him a guarded ver-
sion Of the disappearance Of Jane
Finn. and Of the possibility Of her
having been mixed up unawares in
"some political show" He alluded to
Tuppence and himself as private In
quIry agents" commissioned to find
her. and added that they would there
fore be glad of any details Mr. Hers
heimmer could give them.
That gentleman nodded approval.
"T guess that's all right I was
just mite hasty. Just trot out your
questions and I'll answer"
For the moment this paralyzed the
Young Adventures, but Tuppence, re-
covering herself, plunged boldly into
the breach with a reminiscence culled
from detective fiction.
"When did you last see the dece-
your cousin, mean?"
"Never seen her." responded Mr..
Hersheimmer.
"What?" demanded Tommy. aston
ished.
mo, sir. As I said before, my ia
ther and her mother were brother and
sister, Just as you might be"-Tommy
did not correct this view of their re-
lationship-"but they didn't always
get on together. And when my aunt
made up her mind to marry Amos
Finn, who was poor schoolteacher
out west. my father was just mad
Said If he made his pile, as he seemed
in fair way to do. she'd never see
cent Of 1t. Well. the upshot was
chat Aunt Jane went out west and we
never heard from her again.
1.-THE old man did pile 1t up. He
went into oil, and he went into steel,
and he played bit with railroads.
and can tell you he made Wall Street
sit up!" He paused. "Then he died
-last fall-and I got the dollars.
Well, would you believe 1t, my con-
science got busy! Kept knocking me
up and saying: What about your
Aunt Jane, way out west? 1t wor-
ried me some You see, l figured 1t
out that Amos Finn would never make
good. He wasn't that sort. End Of 1t
was, hired man to hunt her down.
Result, she was dead. and Amos Finn
was dead, but they'd left daughter
Jane-who'd been torpedoed in the
Lusitania on her way to Paris. She
was saved all right, but they didn't
seem able to hear Of her over this
side. guessed they weren't hustllng
any, SO thought I'd come along over.
and speed things up. I phoned Scot
land Yard and the Admiralty first
thing. The Admiralty rather choked
me of, but Scotland Yard were very
civil-said they would make inquiries,
even sent a man round this morning
to get her photograph. I'm of to Paris
tomorrow. just to see what the Pre-
lecture Is doing. I guess If / go to
and fro hustling them. they ought to
get busy!"
The energy Of Mr.. Hershelmmer