ts owner. It
was at this time that he called in detectives, but they failed in
solving the mystery, and twenty years elapsed, when the case was given
to me. The banker furnished me no clue, and I started out to solve the
mystery by methods not necessary to explain. I learned that the man who
deposited the fortune was named Jake Canfield, and was killed the very
day he left the money with the banker. Further discoveries led up to
the fact that the man Jake Canfield left a supposed granddaughter, and
just as I discovered these facts the letter was found, and it was
further learned from the letter that the supposed granddaughter was
really the child of a man whose life Jake Canfield had saved. This
latter gentleman was named Harold Stevens, and he had a child, and in
view of his own approaching death he confided his child to the care of
Jacob Canfield, and--"

At this moment the woman, Mrs. Speir, uttered a cry, and would have
fallen had not the detective held and assisted her to a chair. She
revived after a little and the detective resumed his strange narrative.

CHAPTER III.

ONE MYSTERY SOLVED--A SUCCESSFUL "SHADOW" INDEED--ON A
NEW "LAY"--IN A GAMBLING ROOM--A NEW ACQUAINTANCE--THE
DETECTIVE PERPLEXED--FALSE OR TRUE?--A RIDDLE TO BE
SOLVED.

It was evident that Mrs. Speir, who was bright and quick of perception,
had discerned partially what the ultimate conclusion of the narrative
would be, and it was her excess of emotion that affected her, but as
stated she speedily recovered and the detective immediately continued
his story:

"As I said," resumed Jack, "the gentleman, Harold Stevens, confided his
child to old Mr. Canfield because he had reason to know that Jacob
Canfield was an honorable man, and he also confided to this old
fisherman a large fortune in trust, but for reasons that will never be
known he made the singular conditions that his child Amalie should be
kept in ignorance of the fortune until she was twenty-five. The old man,
fearing to keep the money, transferred the trust to the banker, a Mr.
Townsend, and left the letter of instructions, which was not found until
after forty years; and now, madam, I come into the romance. Once more I
started out to find this heir; I learned that Jacob Canfield had placed
his ward in charge of friends to care for, but we could not discover who
these friends were, and I was compelled to go it blind. I had found the
picture which I showed you and learned a na