lars came all right
every year?' 'Every February.' 'I should like to see her sometime, if I
may, without her knowin' it, Mr. Crow.' 'An' why that way, sir?'
demanded I. 'It would probably annoy her if she thought I was regardin'
her as an object of curiosity,' said he. 'Tell her fer me,' he went on'
gittin' ready to whip up, 'that she has an unknown friend who would give
anything he has to help her.' Goshed, if he didn't put the gad to his
horse an' gallop off 'fore I could say another word. I was goin' to ask
him a lot of questions, too."

"Can't you remember where and under what circumstances you saw him
before?" cried Bonner, very much excited.

"I'm goin' to try to think it up to-night. He was a rich-lookin' feller
an' he had a heavy black band aroun' one of his coat sleeves. Wick, I
bet he's the man we want. I've made up my mind 'at he's her father!"

Bonner impatiently wormed all the information possible out of the
marshal, especially as to the stranger's looks, voice, the direction
taken when they parted company and then dismally concluded that an
excellent opportunity had been hopelessly lost. Anderson said, in
cross-examination, that the stranger had told him he "was leavin' at
once fer New York and then going to Europe." His mother had died
recently.

"I'll try to head him off at Boggs City," said Bonner; and half an hour
later he was off at full speed in the big machine for the county seat, a
roundabout way to Bonner Place. The New York train had gone, but no one
had seen a man answering the description of Anderson's interviewer.

"I'm sorry, Rosalie," said Bonner some time later. He was taking her for
a spin in the automobile. "It was a forlorn hope, and it is also quite
probable that Mr. Crow's impressions are wrong. The man may have
absolutely no connection with the matter. I'll admit it looks
interesting, his manner and his questions, and there is a chance that he
knows the true story. In any event, he did not go to New York to-day and
he can't get another train until to-morrow. I'll pick up Mr. Crow in the
morning and we'll run up here to have a look at him if he appears."

"I think it is a wild goose chase, Wicker," Rosalie said despairingly.
"Daddy Crow has done such things before."

"But this seems different. The man's actions were curious. He must have
had some reason for being interested in you. I am absolutely wild with
eagerness to solve this mystery, Rosalie. It means life to me."

"Oh,