Year: 1872

of the thieves we are dodging are In
this train in clever DISCUSSES. We have
had pretty full particulars, though the
discovery wasn't made until after you
left the Junction Have you noticed"
he dropped his voice little here-"a
young lady and gentleman together in
either carriage?"


j felt bit of an odd catching in my
breath as he spoke. "No," said, quite
in hurry. "No young lady and gen.
tleman belonging together; but there
may be plenty in the train. What If
there are. though? There was no young
lady orgentleman among the robbers ="


"Among the robbers" rejoined Davis
with suppressed enjoyment, "was a
woman who'd make herself into any
thing and you must own that a gentle.
man with dark, long beard isn't bad
for a lady known to us pretty well by
her thick red hair, and cut on her un-
der lip"


"But the young lady?" l asked,
cogitating this.


"Ah the young lady. True enough /;
we'll what shall you say, if told you
she grew out of that boy with the close
ly cut, dark hair that we're after"


1 remembered the pretty plaits, and
the loose falling hair. L remembered
the .bewiledrment in the eyes which
entirely hid their natural expression,
and l didn't ans wer this at all.


81 wish / had a good chance of catch
ing the old fellow as have of catching
the woman and boy" continued Davis,
as we moved slowly past the locket bag
gage van. 81 know they're here, and
that / shall recognize them under any
disguise; but we've no clue yet to the
other rascal. It's most taggravating that,
by some means, we've lost sight of the
biggest rogue ofall. Come along"


did come along feeling very stu
pidly glad that there was all the train
to search before we could reach that
carriage at the other end, where sat the
girl whom had, in way, taken under
my protection.


"When are we to be allowed to leave
this train, pray2 Call me cab," cried
the deaf old lady, plaintively, as we
reached her carriage, and found her
gazing out in the most evident and
utter ignorance of all that was going on
around her. 81 am locked in, Ga'ad.
Do you hear ?"


I heard ; ay, sharp enough. only
wished she could hear me as readily
Davis stood aside watching while un-
locked her door and helped her down.
Then seeing her helplessness, and her
countless packages, he beckoned por-
ter to her, winking expressively to call
his attention to probable shilling.


Carriage after carriage we examined,
and though Davis detected no thief, he
turned away only more and more hope
fully from each. He was now sure they
aoeye there, and that escape was impossi.
BILE. We reached the last carriage in the
line, and now my heart beat in the od-
dest manner possible.


"Is this compartment empty, then 2"
asked Davis, while my fingers were
actually shaking, as 1 put my key in
the door of the centre one. empty and
dark ?'


"Even if it had been empty it
wouldn't have been left dark" 1 NUT.
tered, looking in. "Hello! what's come
to the lamp"


l might as we'll ask what was come
to the lamp, for the compartment was
as dark as if it had never been lighted ;
yet had not myselfstood and watched
the lighted lamp put in at Rugby? And
the carriage was empty too


"Why was this ?" asked the detec-
tive, turning sharply upon me. "Why
was not the lamp lighted?"


But the lamp was lighted, and burn
ing now as sensibly as the others-if we
could but have seen it. AS we soon dis.
covered, the glass was covered by a
kind of tarpaulin, intensely black and
strongly adhesive, and the carriage was
as completely dark as if no lamp had
been there at all.-The perplexity in
Davis face was as great as my own,
when / told him who had travelled
here. "They couldn't have left the train
here, at any rate" he said and knew
that as we'll as he did.


But you have guessed the end. Dur.
ing those few minutes that we stopped
on the line, the two thieves-darkenine
the lamp even after had left them
and using their own key-had left the
carriage under cover of the darkness
managing their escape in their black
dresses out into the blackness of the
night as they had managed their theft
and subsequent concealment. But how
could they have depended on this un
usual delay-this exquisite opportunity
given them in the utter darkness, close
to the city, yet at no station? When
officially made my deposition, and ex
planned the cause of our stoppage, some
thing of the truth seemed to break upol
us all but it wasn't for good whil
that it settled into a certainty. Then i
got clear to everybody that the olde
scoundrel had duped us more ingenious
ly than the younger ones. AS the in
capable old lady, deaf as stone, and S
blind that she had to peer through he
glittering glasses, with eyes half closed
and SO hungry that she had to stop tn
train for a luncheon basket, ,he had play
ed upon US the neatest trick of all
Where on earth were the thick iron
grey hair and whiskers by which w
were to have identified him? But b,
the time the police saw the whole thin
clearly it was too late to follow up an!
clue to him.


The cab which had taken the eccentri


old lady and her parcels and flower


from Euston was lost in the city, an
could not be tracked. A high rewar


was offered for information, but no on
ever won it. My firm belief is that