T
WORK DEMANDED.

Chapter X

CONCLUSION.

PROLOGUE.

Those of our readers who read our narrative "Two Wonderful Detectives,"
will more especially enjoy the further adventures of Jack Alvarez. To
those who did not read that narrative we will state that this remarkable
detective had just solved a great mystery--one of the most remarkable
detective feats ever accomplished. He had found that there had been a
true heir to a great fortune which had been deposited in a most
mysterious manner with a banker, but, alas! when his "shadow" appeared
successful in one direction, he encountered a little tombstone in an
out-of-the-way graveyard, which appeared to settle beyond all dispute
that the heiress had died when a child, and the great fortune which she
would have inherited was diverted in another direction. Indeed through a
singular combination of circumstances, the detective himself became heir
to a portion of the great estate. He did not feel disposed, however, to
accept the benefice, and made up his mind that there were actual heirs
living who were through kinship entitled to the fortune. He had started
out on a former "shadow" without a clue, and in his resolve to find the
collateral heirs he also started out minus a single clue, but he was a
man, as our readers know, to discover clues, and in a most remarkable
manner he succeeded through a series of thrilling adventures in finding
a legitimate heir to an immense estate.

CHAPTER I.

THE SAME OLD INCIDENT OF A MISSING BEAUTY--A WIDOW'S
NARRATIVE--AN AROUSED INTEREST--THE POSSIBILITIES IN
A NAME--STARTLING SUGGESTIONS--WAS IT A CLUE.

"Mr. Alvarez, I am very poor; I cannot offer you a large reward, but I
have saved a few hundred dollars, and those I will give you if you are
successful in finding my lost child."

Jack Alvarez, the detective, was seated in his office when a veiled
woman entered and addressed him in the language with which we open our
narrative.

The detective was a kind-hearted man, well-to-do financially, and as it
occurred not immediately engaged on any special job. He looked the
visitor over a moment and then said:

"Madam, before I can entertain your proposition at all, I must see your
face."

"Is that necessary, sir?"

"It is."

"I am sorry."

"Why?"

"Simply because I fear that you will be so shocked you will not aid me."

"Why will I be shocked, madam? Are you a criminal?"

"I am an honest woman, sir, but oh, how