colds and chapped hands: "We have to stay in all the
time. All that Nell and I can do is to draw, and I get so tired sitting
that I could get up and fly almost. I wish I could see you all. I am
getting so homesick that I don't know what to do. I suppose Wharton
(their baby brother) walks by this time, don't he? I would like to have
him here, he would pass away the time a good deal." As a fact little
Wharton, his mother and sister Dessie, were at this very moment in
Detroit, within ten minutes' walk of the hotel at which Holmes had
registered "Etta and Nellie Canning."

On October 14 there had arrived in that city a weary, anxious-looking
woman, with a girl and a little baby. They took a room at Geis's Hotel,
registering as Mrs. Adams and daughter. Mrs. Adams seemed in great
distress of mind, and never left her room.

The housekeeper, being shown their photographs, identified the woman
and the girl as Mrs. Pitezel and her eldest daughter Dessie. As the same
time there had been staying at another hotel in Detroit a Mr. and Mrs.
Holmes, whose photographs showed them to be the Mr. Holmes in question
and his third wife. These three parties--the two children, Mrs. Pitezel
and her baby, and the third Mrs. Holmes--were all ignorant of each
other's presence in Detroit; and under the secret guidance of Mr. Holmes
the three parties (still unaware of their proximity to each other), left
Detroit for Canada, arriving in Toronto on or about October 18, and
registering at three separate hotels. The only one who had not to all
appearances reached Toronto was the boy Howard.

In Toronto "Alice and Nellie Canning" stayed at the Albion Hotel.

They arrived there on October 19, and left on the 25th. During their
stay a man, identified as Holmes, had called every morning for the two
children, and taken them out; but they had come back alone, usually in
time for supper. On the 25th he had called and taken them out, but they
had not returned to supper. After that date Geyer could find no trace
of them. Bearing in mind Holmes' custom of renting houses, he compiled a
list of all the house agents in Toronto, and laboriously applied to each
one for information. The process was a slow one, and the result seemed
likely to be disappointing.

To aid his search Geyer decided to call in the assistance of the Press.
The newspapers readily published long accounts of the case and portraits
of Holmes and the children. At last, after eight days of patien