By the time this was done there came other demands on her attention, and it was not until Mrs. Nichols had brought her tea and gone again that Nell remembered the paper left for her by the friendly conductor.
For a time she sat turning it over, amused by the advertisements, and wondering if the person offering boots and shoes at half their cost price were a philanthropist or a rogue, but inclining strongly to the latter view, even deciding in her own mind that he must have stolen the goods, since he could afford to sell them so much under their value.
Then her attention was caught and held by a paragraph in an obscure corner of the paper, and she sat staring at it for a long time with frightened eyes, only recalled to the present and its needs by the loud clicking call of the sounder.
Putting the paper aside with a quick movement of distaste, as if it were something to be afraid of, she went to the sounder, and began, half mechanically, to take down the message which was coming through.
It was a long message; but before it was half down on paper she had become quite painfully alert, waiting for the next word with every sense on the strain.
But for the paragraph in the paper it might have conveyed no meaning to her. As it was, the whole fitted together with the accuracy of a child’s puzzle, to which one has obtained the clue.
This was the paragraph—
“Strange Find of Long-Lost Property.”
“A miscellaneous hoard of stolen goods has been unearthed at a lonely house on some high ground, known as Blue Bird Ridge, about forty miles from the frontier on the American side. The find comprises, among other things, valuable watches, chains, silver dishes, spoons, forks, and other articles for table use, invoiced from tradesmen in Victoria, Vancouver Island, and also from firms doing business in New Westminster. Apparently the things have lain hidden for years, and were only discovered by accident, the present occupier of the house, in excavating for a root cellar, having brought to light the chest in which the hoard was stored. It appears that the house was, until recently, occupied by an old man and a young girl, both of whom have mysteriously disappeared. The property was invoiced to a gentleman living at Mutley, and must have been stolen en route.”
So it was this find that Joe Gunnage was riding to acquaint the Canadian police with, on the day when he halted at Mrs. Munson’s farm, but refused to enter the house through fear of catching the fever. If he had crossed the threshold and had seen Nell, it is very probable that he would have reported her to the police also, when she might have found it an extremely difficult and unpleasant task to establish her complete innocence and ignorance of the whole business.