“They found that a window of the library had been broken open; but that was all. Nothing was disturbed in the house except the desk. That was of the regular roller-top variety and of course could be broken open with ease.”
“The thief or thieves must have been watching your father while he was using the book. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been so certain where it could be found.”
“That is what daddy thinks. While he was making his copy he sat under the light with the curtains of the windows only partly drawn. Anybody outside could have looked in.”
“Did your father suspect the two old Germans?”
“Not at all. They were nowhere near. Both of them had gone to live with relatives out in Milwaukee. He at once telegraphed to them, telling of the loss and asking if they had duplicate copies of the formulas. They at once sent a night letter stating they had no duplicates, and advising him to be on the lookout for two men named Norris and Lemrech. Later my father received a letter in which the old Germans told about two workmen who had tried their best to get the formulas away from them. These workmen were Carl Lemrech and Tex Norris, his American cousin. They said that Lemrech was of a shady reputation, and not above stealing the formulas, and that evidently his American cousin was the same stripe of man.”
“Has your father been able to get on the trail of those two men?”
“No. He hired a detective to follow them up, but they had left the boarding house where they had been staying for some time and had disappeared.”
“Then it is this that is making your father look so haggard, Ruth!”