r your explanation."

"As old Berwick said, his second-hand family was a bad lot."

"Yes."

"He wanted to put the money away until his granddaughter came of age. If
we had that letter you would learn that was the reason of his strange
trust in you. He was preparing against all contingencies. He was
evidently a very shrewd man; he desired to cover all trace for twenty
years."

"He succeeded, and so well that by the loss of that letter I have
deprived his granddaughter of her fortune."

"It is even so--yes, this accounts for his strange deposit, and it was a
cunning one. His only risk was your honesty, and it is evident from your
interview with him that he knew what he was about when he made you the
depository."

"He certainly had great confidence in my honor."

"And your care and prudence."

"Yes, and in the latter I have failed."

"We can yet rectify your mistake."

"Do so and you will earn a fortune for yourself."

CHAPTER VIII.

JACK'S FORESIGHT--A SECOND VISIT TO OLD BERWICK--THE
PORTRAIT--OTHER SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERIES--"ALAS! THE
LETTER!"--A STREET CAR INCIDENT--"I WILL FIND THAT
LETTER."

"I will succeed; I have not made this remarkable progress and come upon
these strange discoveries all for nothing."

"Jacob Canfield is dead?"

"Yes."

"The granddaughter if living would now be forty-five years of age."

"Yes, but still a comparatively young woman."

"She may be a humble woman with a family."

"Yes, but if I had a photograph I'd soon find her if living. It is now
my duty to find this granddaughter. She was once a Miss Canfield; my
'shadow' is diverted to a solution of the whereabouts of the living. The
mystery of the dead is solved."

"Yes, but here again you start without a clue."

"Not exactly; I know the name of the one I seek; and now, sir, you will
not see me again until late to-morrow night, and by that time I may have
something to impart."

"One more question, Mr. Wonderful Man: Where did Jacob Canfield get this
fortune?"

"That is a mystery; the letter no doubt would have made that plain. One
fact we can assume: he came by it honestly, for his record is that of an
honest man, and again, all the drafts were paid without question. He
told you to sell them; he did not attempt to hide his ownership of them.
Yes, the money was his honestly to bestow, or he may have held it in
trust for some one else. It may be that the letter would have revealed
the latter fact, and it i