is you see write a line to E. J. D., Elktown Post Office.' I want
this to go in as 'Personal and Private'--sabe?--like them notisses in
the big 'Frisco papers."

"I see," said the editor, laying it aside. "It shall go in the same
issue in another column."

Apparently Mr. Dimmidge expected something more than this reply, for
after a moment's hesitation he said with an odd smile:

"Ye ain't seein' the meanin' o' that, lad?"

"No," said the editor lightly; "but I suppose R. B. does, and it isn't
intended that any one else should."

"Mebbe it is, and mebbe it isn't," said Mr. Dimmidge, with a
self-satisfied air. "I don't mind saying atween us that R. B. is the man
as I've suspicioned as havin' something to do with my wife goin' away;
and ye see, if he writes to E. J. D.--that's my wife's initials--at
Elktown, I'LL get that letter and so make sure."

"But suppose your wife goes there first, or sends?"

"Then I'll ketch her or her messenger. Ye see?"

The editor did not see fit to oppose any argument to this phenomenal
simplicity, and Mr. Dimmidge, after settling his bill with the foreman,
and enjoining the editor to the strictest secrecy regarding the origin
of the "personal notice," took up his gun and departed, leaving the
treasury of the "Clarion" unprecedentedly enriched, and the editor to
his proofs.

The paper duly appeared the next morning with the column advertisement,
the personal notice, and the weighty editorial on the wagon road. There
was a singular demand for the paper, the edition was speedily exhausted,
and the editor was proportionately flattered, although he was surprised
to receive neither praise nor criticism from his subscribers. Before
evening, however, he learned to his astonishment that the excitement was
caused by the column advertisement. Nobody knew Mr. Dimmidge, nor his
domestic infelicities, and the editor and foreman, being equally in the
dark, took refuge in a mysterious and impressive evasion of all inquiry.
Never since the last San Francisco Vigilance Committee had the office
been so besieged. The editor, foreman, and even the apprentice, were
buttonholed and "treated" at the bar, but to no effect. All that could
be learned was that it was a bona fide advertisement, for which one
hundred dollars had been received! There were great discussions and
conflicting theories as to whether the value of the wife, or the
husband's anxiety to get rid of her, justified the enormous expense and