“This is a decidedly interesting matter,” said the visitor. “It is certainly worth while trying to trace the children. What was the man’s name?”
“Jake Johnson was the name he was always known by.”
“Have you set the police force of the city at work on this search?”
“No, I have not much confidence in them. I preferred to conduct it myself.”
“You did wrong there. A thousand men, well posted about the city, are certainly better than one man not at all posted. Please tell me all you know about this man, how you discovered him, when he died and where he was buried.”
Mr. Somers proceeded to do so, in a long narrative of no special interest to the reader.
“And he kept up his vagrant habits to the last?”
“Yes, but had not the children with him. I can trace him back for some months before his death, and he was alone during that period!”
“He probably did not trouble himself with them long,” said the visitor. “Men of that character, unless they can make some special use of them, do not care to be bothered with incumbrances. He has likely placed them somewhere where he calculated you would never find them.”
“That may be so,” said Mr. Somers, thoughtfully. “But where?”