ter said she had left her home
in Chicago without the consent of her aunt, imbued with the idea that
she would sooner support herself than depend upon the charity of that
worthy though wealthy relative. The aunt had recently died, and counsel
for the estate was trying to establish proof concerning the actions and
whereabouts of Miss Lovering since her departure from Chicago.

The young woman often had said she would become a teacher, a tutor, a
governess, or a companion, and it was known that she had made her way to
that section of the world presided over by Anderson Crow--although the
distinguished lawyers did not put it in those words. A reward of five
hundred dollars for positive information concerning the "life of the
girl" while in "that or any other community" was promised.

Miss Banks's appointment came through the agency of the district's
congressman, in whose home she had acted as governess for a period.
Moreover, she answered the description in that she was young, pretty,
and refined. Anderson Crow felt that he was on the right track; he was
now engaged in as pretty a piece of detective business as had ever
fallen to his lot, and he was not going to spoil it by haste and
overconfidence.

Just why Anderson Crow should "shadow" the schoolhouse instead of the
teacher's temporary place of abode no one could possibly have known but
himself--and it is doubtful if _he_ knew. He resolved not to answer the
Chicago letter until he was quite ready to produce the girl and the
proof desired.

"I'd be a gol-swiggled fool to put 'em onter my s'picions an' then have
'em cheat me out of the reward," he reflected keenly. "You cain't trust
them Chicago lawyers an inch an' a half. Doggone it, I'll never fergit
that feller who got my pockit-book out to Central Park that time. He
tole me positively he was a lawyer from Chicago, an' had an office in
the Y.M.C.A. Building. An' the idee of him tellin' me he wanted to see
if my pockit-book had better leather in it than hisn!"

The fact that the school children, big and little, loved Miss Banks
possessed no point of influence over their elders of the feminine
persuasion. They turned up their Tinkletown noses and sniffed at her
because she was a "vain creature," who thought more of "attractin' the
men than she did of anything else on earth." And all this in spite of
the fact that she was the intimate friend of the town goddess, Rosalie
Gray.

Everybody in school No. 5 over the age