p in tracing the missing
pocketbook I had no way of locating him beyond assuming that he must be
staying at one of the hotels. Therefore when the omnibus company could
furnish no clue, I got into touch with an agency whose business it is to
hunt people up. If the pocketbook had been dropped on the bus I felt
sure your boy, who was almost the only other person on top of the coach,
would know about it; if, on the other hand, it had been dropped in the
street, my problem would be a different one. In either case the sooner I
knew my course of action the better. I hope you will believe, Mr.
Tolman, that when I called in the aid of detectives I had no suspicions
against your son's honesty."

Mr. Tolman waved the final remark aside good-humoredly.

"We have not taken the affair as a personal matter at all," he declared.
"We fully appreciate your difficulty in finding Stephen, for he was also
up against the problem of finding you. New York is a rather large city
anyway, and for two people who do not even know one another's names to
get together is like hunting a needle in a haystack. Our only recourse
to discovering the owner of the pocketbook would be through the
advertising columns of the papers and that is the method we should have
followed had not Donovan appeared and saved us the trouble."

He exchanged a smile with the detective.

"The advertising column was my one hope," Mr. Ackerman replied. "I felt
sure that any honest person who picked up the purse would advertise it.
It was not the honest people I was worrying about. It was the thought
that I had dropped the bill book in the street where any
Tom-Dick-and-Harry could run away with it that concerned me. Moreover,
even if your boy had found it on the bus, he might have turned it in to
an employee of the coach line who was not honest enough to give it in
turn to his superiors. So I wanted to know where I stood; and now that I
do I cannot tell you how grateful I am both to Stephen and to this
officer here for the service they have rendered me." Then, turning
toward Mr. Tolman, he added in an undertone, "I hope neither you nor
your son have suffered any annoyance through this unfortunate incident."

"Not in the least," was the prompt response. "I confess we were a trifle
disconcerted at first; but Mr. Donovan has performed his duty with such
courtesy that we entertain toward him nothing but gratitude."

"I am glad of that," Mr. Ackerman replied, "for I should deeply r