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198 imparted no particular news, saying only that she was attending to orders as they came in.

Frank found a cheap lodging, and was back at the hotel at the lake by six o'clock the next morning. A brief talk with the clerk convinced him that Purnell would not be likely to return to that hostelry.

He had gone, owing a week's bill, and the two valises left in his room were found to be filled with bricks.

"I've missed my man this time," reflected Frank, as he hitched up the horse an hour later. "I may as well go right on my route. I'll find him again, some time."

At Derby, Frank upon his arrival went to the telegraph office. He sent a message to the reformatory at Linwood, asking if one Richard Welmore was still an inmate of that institution. He asked, further, if one Dale Wacker had ever been a prisoner there.

He went on selling in the town, with fair returns, until mid-afternoon. A reply to his message awaited him on his next visit to the telegraph office. It read:

"Dale Wacker paroled on bond of his uncle. Richard Welmore escaped about six months since.