Waiting and Watching--Two Letters--Newton Edwards' Hiding-Place
Discovered.
Harry Vinton continued his attentions to the fair young domestic, and in
a few days he invited her to accompany him to the theater. Edwards'
sister, Mrs. Andrews, was present when this invitation was extended, and
having formed a very favorable opinion of my good-looking operative, she
at once consented, and Mary blushingly signified her inclination to
accept his escort. His deportment toward Mrs. Andrews was most
deferential and polite, and in a very short time he had quite won her
kindly regard. This, of course, was precisely what he was most desirous
of accomplishing, and he improved every opportunity that offered to
ingratiate himself into the good opinion of Mary's mistress. So
agreeably and gentlemanly did he conduct himself that ere a week had
elapsed he was quite graciously received, not only by the pretty young
servant girl, but by the members of the family as well. Mrs. Andrews,
who appeared to be a kind-hearted lady, although seemingly oppressed
with some trouble, which was not made apparent, was deeply interested in
Mary's welfare, and had taken especial pains to cultivate Vinton's
acquaintance. This was done evidently with the view of satisfying
herself as to the sincerity of his intentions toward the girl, and to
advise with her in the event of her discovering that he was an unworthy
suitor for her hand.
Vinton lost no opportunity to advance his friendly footing in the
family, and frequently offered his services to Mrs. Andrews in the way
of performing trifling commissions for her, which he could execute while
on his way to and from his daily labor.
From Mary, Vinton learned that the family were in much distress
regarding a brother of Mrs. Andrews, but what it was she could not tell.
He also learned that this brother (who was none other than Newton
Edwards), and his wife had resided with the family for some time, but
that Mrs. Andrews was very unfriendly to the young woman, and scarcely
treated her with the respect which was due to her brother's wife. The
young lady was very unhappy, Mary said, and several times she had seen
her weeping bitterly in her room. Thus matters continued until on one
Saturday morning, but a short time previous to this, the brother came
home intoxicated, and abused his wife in a dreadful manner, and after
ordering her to return to her family, had left the house, and had not
been seen since.
"What has become of the young lady?" inquired Vinton, after he had
expressed his sympathy for her unfortunate condition.
"Oh, her brother came for her that very afternoon, and after expressing
his mind pretty freely to Mrs. Andrews, he took her to his home,
somewhere away from the city."
"Did her husband go away, too?" asked Vinton.
"Yes, he went about the same time, and has not been here since."
"Do the people in the house know where he is?" inquired Vinton.
"I don't think they do," answered the girl, "and they are very much
worried about him. There was a letter came from some one the other day,
and ever since that time Mrs. Andrews has been in great trouble. She
does not tell me anything about it, but I think it is about her
brother."
"That's very strange, isn't it?"
"Yes, and what is more so," answered the girl, "for several days past
there have been several men about the neighborhood who are strangers,
and Mrs. Andrews is very much frightened about it. She is afraid to go
out of the house, and seems almost afraid to move."
"Does she think they have anything to do with her?" asked Vinton,
surprisedly.
"Oh, I don't know about that; but it is a very unusual thing to have
strange men loitering about our neighborhood, and she feels very nervous
about it."
Vinton expressed his profound sympathy for the unfortunate family, and
without hinting any suspicion that anything of a criminal nature had
occurred, he parted from the young lady and returned to his home.
A few evenings after this, Vinton again called upon Mary Crilly, and
while he was conversing with her, Mrs. Andrews came into the room.
"Mr. Vinton," said she, "before you go, I want to give you a couple of
letters to post for me, if it is not too much trouble."
"Certainly not," he replied, "anything I can do for you, Mrs. Andrews,
will be cheerfully done by me, I assure you."
"Thanks," said the lady, "I will have them ready before you leave, and
would like to have them posted this evening."
"I will attend to it, madam," said Vinton respectfully.
After passing a pleasant hour with Mary, Mrs. Andrews returned, and
handed Vinton two letters which he placed in his pocket without looking
at the addresses, a proceeding which he noticed gave Mrs. Andrews some
degree of pleasure. After a few moments' further talk he took his leave,
and hastened to the agency. Here he was fortunate enough to find my son
William, and he immediately produced the two letters and laid them upon
the desk.
"I don't know whether there is anything in these or not," said he, "but
I thought I had better let you see them."
William took up the two envelopes, and looked at their addresses. With a
start of surprise, he read the superscriptions. One of them was
addressed to "William Amos, McDonald, New York," and the other to
"Newton Edwards, Denver, Colorado, care Windsor Hotel."
Here was a dilemma! Could it be possible that Newton Edwards, knowing
that the detectives were upon his track, would continue to use his own
proper name, and have letters addressed to him in that open manner? This
was certainly a most foolhardy thing for a sensible man to do, who was
seeking to evade the officers of justice. Was it not more reasonable to
think that Mrs. Andrews, taking alarm at the possibility of the actions
of herself and family being watched, and being fully aware of the crime
her brother had committed, would be advised to direct her letter to him
under an assumed name?
A glance at the inside of these neat little envelopes would have
satisfied all doubts upon the question, but with a delicate regard for
the privacy of individual correspondence, William would not have opened
them for any consideration.
"This is very clever," said he; "but I am afraid Mrs. Andrews is not
quite sharp enough for us this time. However, we will sleep upon the
matter, and see what will turn up by to-morrow."
The next morning all doubts were set at rest. Mr. Warner, my son William
and myself, were seated in my office discussing this question. We were
unanimous in our opinion that the letter addressed to Newton Edwards was
a decoy; and with Everman's information before us, that Edwards was
hiding somewhere in New York state, which began with a "Mac," all of us
were convinced that the second letter alone was deserving of serious
attention.
While we were thus debating the question, the mail brought us a report
from William Everman at Woodford, that settled all doubts. Mrs. Edwards,
he stated, had been seen to mail a letter that evening, and after a
serious effort, Everman had obtained a glance at the address. It was as
follows:
William Amos,
McDonald,
New York.
"That settles it!" said I; "send at once to McDonald, and my word for
it, Edwards will be found."
Whether I prophesied true or not, will soon be seen.