Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 815 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

" i, Ris US eo r iG **I wanted to ask you if you have yet sent word to Mr, Stiverson about this loss?” “T was just in the act of writing a note to Mrs, Stiverson when you came in. Not know- ing how Mr, Stiverson is this morning, I thought it best to tell her and leave it to her to tell him, ‘*A good idea. Will you allow me to take the note to the house?” ‘* Why, I was going to send Jack.» “On second thought, you need not write a note at all; just let me go there and inform the lady about it, from you. And if there is any- thing you want to ask her, { will return with woatever answer she may give.” ** You have some object in this,” ** Certainly,” ‘* Well, you may do the errand, then, I will tell you about what I intended to write, That is, that the bank has been robbed to the tune of about twelve thousand dollars; no clue to the robbers; have put a detective"on the case, and have also informed the police. Tell her to let Mr, Stiverson know it when he can stand it. Also say that I shall have to draw upon our re- serve in order to meet to-day’s demands,” “ All right,” assented Billy, ‘‘ Vl carry the message straight enough. hat is the ad- dress? It was given, and as it was going to take him close to the Shyrock residence, Billy could kill two birds with one stone, as the saying goes, In due time he pulled the bell at the Stiverson mansion, and a servant opened the door, ‘* How is Mr, Stiverson this morning?” Billy made inguiry, ‘‘ He is about the same, sir,’”’ was the answer. ‘¢ Then he is pretty sick, I believe.” ‘ Yes, sir.” ‘*Ts Mrs, Stiverson at home?” 46 Yes,” **T want to see her,” ** What name, please?” ‘‘ Weston. Tell her I am here from the office, with important news,” ** Yes, sir. Step right into the room, sir,” Billy entered the parlor, and presently the door opened and a woman came into the room, She was young, not more than thirty at most, and good-looking, with black eyes and hair, If this was Mrs, Stiverson, she was a much younger person than Billy had expected to see, for be knew the banker was a man well on in years. ‘* Mrs, Stiverson?” he interrogated, ‘t Yes, sir,” was the response. ‘‘ You want to see me? ‘Yes, madam, I am here with a message from Mr, Stiverson’s chief clerk,” ‘‘And what is the message? Something he desires to ask Mr, Stiverson? Iam afraid we cannot bother him with business questions,” “‘Itis for you to decide whether you will in- form him ornot, The fact of the matter is, the bank was robbed last night to the tune of about twelve thousand dollars, and there is no clue to the robber.” ‘* Mercy sakes! You do not mean it?” ‘That is the fact of the matter, madam, vy do you think about informing Mr. Stiver- son ‘*Tt will never do, The excitement it would bring would be too much for him, It must be sere away from him, no matter at what cost, sir ** Well, no doubt you are right about it. Mr. Willey wanted me to say he has employed a de- tective and has notified the police. Also that he will have to draw on the reserve fund in order to meet obligations to-day,” ** T suppose he knows what is best to dc; 1 am sure I do not, ou are not employed by Mr. Stiverson, are you, sir? [I have never seen you ye ee 0; 1 am merely playing the part of mes- senger for Mr. Willey. Do you know of any Perse who may, be suspected in the matter, rs, Stiverson?” ‘¢‘Then you are the detective?” ‘“‘ What makes you think so?” ‘Your question, sir,” ‘Well, then, I am the detective! Can you point suspicion to any person?” ‘‘ Why, no, certainly not. I suppose it must have been some professional burglar, and what can I know about such?” **On the contrary, madam, it was nothing of the kind. The money was stolen by some one who had the combination to the safe and who could open the office door without trouble.” ~ * You astonish ime!” , | ‘The door was found locked and all right, but the safe was open and the money gone. You see how it is, and that is why I asked if you can Broadway Billy’s Bank R i eee direct suspicion against any one, It is likely to prove a very puzzling affair, [ am afraid,” - No; [ cannot suspect any one, sir. Mr, Wil- ey— But she stopped. ‘*I think you are about to say Mr, Willey is the only one who knows the combiration. Am I right?” ‘* Yes, youare. I mentioned his name before I thought, I would vot cast a suspicion upon him for the world, sir; in fact, 1am sure he is innocent.” Ari woman’s frankness impressed Billy favor- ably. . ‘** But, Mr, Stiverson himself is the only other who could open the safe,” he observed, ‘* Yes, that is true‘ have heard Mr, Stiver- eon say 80,” ‘*Can you show me his key to the office?” ‘‘T will do so if [can find it; I presume it is in one of his pockets. I will see,” She rose and left the room, and was gone some minutes, When she returned she had a large key in her hand, which she gave to Billy with the remark: ‘*T do not understand, of course, why you should want to see thig key, but here it is, though I cannot permit you to take it away with you,” ‘‘And why can you not allow that?” Billy asked, ‘* Because, pardon me, 1 do not know you, sir, [have only your bare word for what you have said,” : ‘That istrue. Itis not my intention, how- ever, to make and such request; I merely want- ed to see the key, to have an idea of itin my mind,” sé Oh !”? Billy had eee looked at the key all he cared to, and gave it back. ‘“‘T presume it is needless for me to ask whether it was possible for this key to have been out of the house last night?” he observed, ‘‘Out of the question, sir,” was the prompt answer. ‘It was in Mr, Stiverson’s pocket, and his clothes are hanging in a closet where they have been for ten days at least. It was there last night, of course,” ‘‘ Well, here is my card,” and Billy rose to take his leave. ‘‘If you should learn anything of importance, please send me word to my office, You must use your own judgment about telling Mr. Stiverson. Ill do what I can toward soiy- ing the mystery.” CHAPTER III, WHAT THE SON SAID. WueENn Billy left the house he bent his steps in the direction of the Shyrock residence, where it had been his intention to go first, And as he went along he was running the latest case over in his mind, trying to get some- thing to work upon, but finding nothing, thus far. It had the appearance of a hard nut to crack, His object in asking to see the office key bad not been so much because he wanted to soe it as to ascertain whether it had been in the house that night. He was well enough satisfied that the wire key he had found was not the ons with which the door had been unlocked and locked again, ‘‘It’s a knotty one, sure enough,” he said to himself. ‘I can’t think Willey is guilty, and neither does Mrs, Stiverson, I did think that maybe she had had a hand in it, but now that I have seen her I bave to give up that idea, Who, then, wasit? Ishall have to dig deeper in order to find out, Well, Pll lay that case by on the shelf for the present,” He had now reached the Shyrock residence, This house was not more than three minutes’ walk from the Stiverson mansion. His ring at the bell brought a servant to the door, hardly necessary to say, and he asked for Mrs. Shyrock. He was shown into a room and the servant carried bis name to her mistress, who very soon made her appearance, proving to be a woman past middle life, *‘T presume you are the detective Mr, Wither- ton spoke to me about last night,” she im- mediately greeted. ‘‘ Iam Mrs, Shyrock, sir.” “There is no doubt about my being the person, I guess,” Billy made res»onse, ‘for I am a detective, and it was a Mr, Witherton who came to my office and engaged me to look for Mr, Sa poet : : is Well, what do you think of the matter, sir ‘* [t smacks strongly of the nvysterious,” Billy declared, 2 | acket, 3 _- ‘*And so it certainly is, Where do you sup- pose Mr, Shyrock can be?” ‘* Impossible for me to guess, madam. I must try to get some enlightenment by questioning you,' ‘* Very well.” ‘* Wbat were your busband’s habits?” ‘* They were excellent, sir. No one could find fault with him,” ‘* He was in the habit of going away frequent- ly, Mr. Witherton toldme, I suppose you know where he was at such a time?” ‘* Certainly; he has a branch of his business tn Philadelphia, and some of his time had to Le spent there, In fact, fully a balf of bis time has been spent in that city for the past twelve years,” ‘* There is no doubt about tbat, I suppose?” **None, I have gone with him a good many times, and at other time: he has sent for me, when he had to stay longer than usual,” ‘* But, it seems, he bas not been there this time, though he left home with the intention of going there, Can you tell me anything that will throw light upon kis possible where- abouts?” ‘*T am afraid not, sir. I fear that he may have been killed.” ‘Have you any reason for thinking he has been killed?” **' No, I do not know that I have.” ‘*How long is it since you were here last with your husband in Philadelphia, Mrs, Shy- rock?’ ‘Oh, it must be a couple of years, [ should think, 1 disliked putting up ata hotel, and so stopped going.” *Did you go very often before that?” ‘Oh, no; maybe two or throe times a year; certainly not more than that,” ‘‘ Tt was about twelve years ago, I understand ou to say, when Mr. Shyrock opened his branch n Philadelphia.” ‘* Yes, sir.” ** And before that time what was his habit?” ‘*In what respect do you mean?” ‘* Was he as closely attentive to business in his one store then, as he was after that in both of them?” ‘* Yes, ho was strictly attentive to business, Mr. Weston. When not at the store he was home, and when not at home, at the store, He seldom got out of the grooves of shop life and home life,” Billy was thinking within himself as he put the questions and he heard the answers to them, Mr. Shyrock’s -irregularity, it would seem, had begun about the time of the opening of his branch store, and whatever there was mysterious about it now had had its beginning then, In order to get on the right track, he believed, he must go back to that time and learn all he could about the Mr, Shyrock of that day. By so doing, be might be able to pick up the thread that would lead to the solving of the whole mys- tery. He saw no other wars Beak you a likeness of your husband?” he asked. ‘Yes, certainly; I must show it to you.” ‘*If you please,” She brought an album and pointed out the photograph of a rather fine-looking man past middle age, ‘‘ And how long since this was taken?” Billy inquired. ** Not more than four years ago,” was the re- ly. ‘It looks about as he looked the last time Lene him,” Billy fixed the features well upon his mind,’ He would know the man, he believed, no matter where he saw him, When he had asked several questions, and just as he was about leaving, a young man entered the room abruptly, He stopped short on seeing a stranger there. ‘Your pardon, mother,” he said, quickly. “I thought you were alone,” ‘Stop, do not withdraw,” the woman spoke; ‘* this is tbe detective Witherton has sent to me— Mr. Weston,” ‘“* Broadway Billy?” cried the young man, hold- ing out his hand, ‘‘ He could not have made a better choice, mother. I have heard a good deal about you, Mr, Weston, I hope you can be of some use to us,” TI certainly hope I may,” Billy responded, ac- cepting bis hand. ‘I will try, anyhow.” ‘* My son, Mr. Horace Shyrock,” the mother finished the introduction. Billy had sized him upquickly, He was about twenty-four years of age, ata guess, and had the air of being a pretty fast young man, ** Do you think you can find father?” he asked, boo com —