Beadle's Dime Library No. 778: 'The Butler Detective; or, Old Grip's Grip'

This issue of Beadle and Adams' story weekly (No. 778, September 20, 1893) contains "The Butler Detective; or, Old Grip's Grip," by Jackson Knox ("Old Hawk"), subtitled "Running Down Two French Rogues in New York." The narrative opens with wealthy merchant Calvin Vanderloopen and his ne'er-do-well nephew Waldo Dysart at breakfast in their Murray Hill mansion. Mr. Vanderloopen chastises Waldo for his attentions to a French stage-reader, Mlle. Aspasie Molière Siddons, rather than his fiancée Marguerite Clayton. The household is disrupted when Mrs. Vanderloopen discovers her wedding-gift diamond parure—valued at twenty thousand dollars—has disappeared from her jewel case. After an initial search, Mr. Vanderloopen departs to locate the famous independent detective "Old Grip" Grippon. Mrs. Vanderloopen, however, questions Waldo about his familiarity with Mademoiselle Aspasie, hinting that her sudden interest in the thief's identity may connect to the Frenchwoman's fondness for diamonds—a suggestion that enrages Waldo.