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176 without drawing her into the affair, her hiding-place could be discovered.

The finding of the boy was not so simple a matter as might have been supposed. It required a week's search to locate him. He was the only son of a poor widow living near South Park, who had done the Reeds' washing. Before her departure Miss Reed had commissioned him to deliver the package at Mr. Gault's office at a certain date, and at an hour when there would be no chance of his coming into personal contact with Mr. Gault himself.

Gault snatched at this meager information, and lost no time in seeking out the widow in her own home. She was a good-natured and loquacious Irish-American,—Mrs. Cassidy by name,—and was full of terror at the thought that detectives had been occupied in discovering her place of abode. Her fears, however, were soon allayed, and she became exceedingly discursive. But when it came to information of Viola, she could tell no more than the others.

Before Miss Reed had left the city she had given the package to the boy, with the instructions that he should not deliver it till the day set by her, some time after her departure. Of her own volition Mrs. Cassidy stated that she thought Miss Reed did not want any one to know where she went. Mrs. Cassidy had conferred with others of her kind in the locality,