neration offered.

The old gentleman revolved the question in his mind for a few
moments, gazing somewhat suspiciously at the young man the while, and
at length said to Bucholz, who was anxiously awaiting his decision:

"Well, you may come along and see how you will like it. If it does
not suit you, you can return, and we can make our arrangements
afterward."

The matter was thus disposed of, and William Bucholz journeyed to
South Norwalk with his employer. The gay soldier had become the
humble servant, the prospective farmer had been transformed into the
obsequious valet.

These two men had journeyed across the seas, for a far-off land, and
thus had strangely met. The web of fate had woven itself around their
two lives, and the compact this day made was only to be severed by
the death, sudden and mysterious, of the eldest party to the
agreement.

Who could have told that before many months had rolled away, that old
man would have been brutally beaten to death, and that the
bright-faced young man who sued for his favor would be sitting in a
lonely cell under the dreadful charge of committing the foul deed!

Perhaps could either have glanced with prophetic vision into the
future, their paths, by mutual consent, would have widely diverged,
and their intimacy have ceased forever on that August afternoon.

THE DETECTION.

CHAPTER XVII.

_The Detective._--_His Experience and His Practice._--_A Plan of
Detection Perfected._--_The Work is Begun._

The detective occupies a peculiar position in society, and is a
prominent actor in many scenes of which the general public can have
no knowledge. In his breast may be locked the secrets of many men who
stand in proud pre-eminence before the public, and who are admired
and respected for the possession of virtues that are but the cloak
with which they hide the baser elements of their dispositions.

The canting hypocrite, whose voice may be loudest in chapel or
meeting-house, and whose sanctimonious air and solemn visage will
cover the sins of his heart to the general observer, is well known to
the detective, who has seen that same face pale with apprehension,
and has heard that same voice trembling with the fear of exposure.

That dapper young gentleman, who twirls his moustache and swings his
cane so jauntily upon the promenade, is an object of admiration to
many; but to the man who knows the secrets of his inner life another
scene is opened, and he remembers