on such slips of paper.

"I guess," it began, "I've got onto the biggest thing yet, Maxwell. The
_Events_ is going to send me to do the Social Science Congress which
meets in Quebec this year, and I'm going to take Mrs. Pinney along and
have a good time. She's got so she can travel first-rate, now; and the
change will do her and the baby both good. I shall interview the social
science wiseacres, and do their proceedings, of course, but the thing
that I'm onto is Northwick. I've always felt that Northwick kind of
belonged to yours truly, anyway; I was the only man that worked him up
in any sort of shape, at the time the defalcation came out, and I've got
a little idea that I think will simply clean out all competition. That
letter of his set me to thinking, as soon as I read it, and my wife and
I both happened on the idea at the same time; clear case of telepathy.
Our idea is that Northwick didn't go to Europe--of course he
didn't!--but he's just holding out for terms with the company. I don't
believe he's got off with much money; but if he was going into business
with it in Canada, he would have laid low till he'd made his
investments. So my theory is that he's got all the money he took with
him except his living expenses. I believe I can find Northwick, and I am
not going to come home without trying hard. I am going to have a
detective's legal outfit, and I flatter myself I can get Northwick over
the frontier somehow, and restore him to the arms of his anxious friends
of the Ponkwasset Company. I don't know yet just how I shall do it, but
I guess I shall do it. I shall have Mrs. Pinney's advice and counsel,
and she's a team; but I shall have to leave her and the baby at Quebec,
while I'm roaming round in Rimouski and the wilderness generally, and I
shall need active help.

"Now, I liked some things in that _Abstract_ article of yours; it was
snappy and literary, and all that, and it showed grasp of the subject.
It showed a humane and merciful spirit toward our honored friend that
could be made to tell in my little game if I could get the use of it. So
I've concluded to let you in on the ground floor, if you want to go into
the enterprise with me; if you don't, don't give it away; that's all. My
idea is that Northwick can be got at quicker by two than by one; but we
have not only got to get _at_ him, but we have got to _get_ him; and get
him on this side of Jordan. I guess we shall have to do that by moral
suasion most