conjecture. He concluded that Jake had placed the child somewhere near
his home, where he might find her at any time if he desired to
communicate with her.

Jack left the train on the Central Railroad of New Jersey and started
out by visiting from house to house. He determined to visit every town
from Jersey City to Lakewood, and he started in at one of the oldest
towns and then commenced his search again. He started in by looking in
the face of every woman he met, and he also went from house to house,
pretending to be acting as agent for a monthly publication. He had the
picture of Amalie, and believed that with his marvelous keenness he
could detect a resemblance even though forty years had passed since the
picture had been taken. He in this way spent one whole week, and
believed he had seen the face of every woman in the town, but not one
face presented any suggestion of a resemblance. With the different women
he started in with a little line of conversation; he introduced the name
of Stevens and Canfield, and he would say: "Why, let me see, isn't this
the town where the little girl was brought up from the beach and left
with strangers to secure a fortune to her?"

The above was only one of the many ingenious questions the detective
asked in order to quicken some one's memory, or start a line of thought
that would recall the circumstance of a little orphan child having been
left in charge of some one. He had one disadvantage to contend with--the
length of time that had elapsed; but he was hopeful that he might in
this way run upon Amalie Stevens in person. He recognized that the
chances were the girl had continued to live in the town where Jake had
placed her, and it was equally possible that she might have married some
one in the town and have settled down and lived there for life. We wish
space would permit the recital of the many odd and novel little
inventions of the detective to gain a clue, but all his devices failed.
He did not become discouraged; he kept muttering: "I'll get there in
time."

There was one chance against him, and that chance he most feared. It was
possible Amalie Stevens had died while a child; if so there remained
little hope of his ever solving the mystery, at least little hope of
ever seeing an heir to the great fortune, for failing to find Amalie
there was no other heir. The great fortune under the terms of the letter
would lapse to Mr. Townsend. Jake Canfield had calculated the
possi