New Nick Carter Weekly, No. 8 — page 22: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

» He could learn little about this man named Gardner from the agent, as, in the case of the house on the outskirts of Bal- main, the man who leased it had paid his rent in advance and had never been to see the agent since. a3 The agent was one of those persons who cannot describe a man’s appearance clearly, and Trim therefore got very little satisfaction as the result of his questions. Nevertheless he felt greatly encour- aged, and hurrying to the nearest hotel he consulted a directory for the purpose}. of finding whether the name Henry Gard- ner appeared in it. It proved that there were three men in Sydney of that name. _ Jt was still early in the morning and he decided to look them up _ before he re- ported to Captain Pemberton. So he hired a cab and asked to be driven to a certain numbet on Victoria Street which was set down in the directory as the busi- ness place of one of the Gardners. Trim found it to be a small grocery. A middle-aged man was arranging boxes of vegetables npen the walk in front of , the door. “J. say, imister,”” oad Trim, ‘can yon tell me whether Mr. ‘Henry Gard- ner is about ?’’ “Hi fancy Hi can,’’ was the prompt -__- response, ‘‘for Hi’m that hindividual.”’ See “Oh! your aeape is Henry Gardner, is i pie Af ‘ Ps Se ASE: is, tte What can Hi do for 2 . you j xg ” se "ex ie ; . = ae op thiglefot 5 a? = ~~ | ry Gardner ’m lookin: for.” Batis 2 ““Oh, then hit might be my father. vy esas as your : father’s name Heat ; oer: a Se “Where os he live?”’ ae 2: _ Gardner junior gave ame Henry Gardner. | does he live: pe erocer’s. small house, the ground floor of which the ace aad r, and Trim on referring to his ae Or andum book found that it was an-) Tri -r, of ae places given in the directory for two of. them,’” he) ai ; Perhaps it’s ed third, NEW NICK CARTER WEEKLY. ‘““You’re ‘sure hit’s ’Enry Gardner, be you ?”’ ‘That’s the name.” ‘Then it might be my cousin.’’ “Ah! yes, so it might. And where The erocer gave another direction, and Trim, having thanked him, drove away. The other direction was the third place noted in the directory as the residence of a Henry Gardner. It was in a short street not far from the The number proved to be a was given over to a cobbler’s shop. Trim entered the shop and, finding that the cobbler was talking to a customer, made a pretext of wishing to buy a pair of shoestrings. In the course of this little transaction he learned easily enough that the man he was dealing with was Henry Gardner, and he was entirely satisfied that this one also could not possibly be his highness. ‘‘Neither of these two Gardners,’’ thought Trim as he returned to his cab, ‘Cis clever enough to disguise himself so as to deceive me, and besides that, I size them up as honest men anvhow. “The third being the grocer’s father és altogether too old, so 1 don’t need to see him. ‘Now, then, having traced all the Henry Gardners that can be found in the directory, Iam forced to conclude either that the Henry Gardner who leased that house in Balmain_ gave a fictitious name or that there isa Henry Gardner i in town | who has. managed to escape solicitors for the directory. atter case.’’ _ As he had come to a halt. in- Gas jan of investigation, there was nothing better — _|to do then to report : ane zone he did: 3 ig ee it must be IE; _ Captain Pember- ae .