Page:The Mystery of Central Park.djvu/154

148 the date the boy called for the gown and I am very sorry I cannot do more for you."

The man had the gown put in a box for Richard, who left the establishment feeling happier than he had since he and Penelope had found the dead girl. He was on the track of her identity at last, and, though it was a a faint clue he possessed, he felt it a very sure one.

They did not show much inclination to help Richard at the District Telegraph office. At first they said it was impossible to tell which messenger it was, even if he had been from that place, and then, after a fashion, they did make a search, but with no success.

"I know it," said one of the messengers, who was standing at the counter. "I had stopped out front to scrap with Reddy Ryan, who was takin' a basket of clothes home, and a duffer drove up in a carriage and asked if I'd do a job for him, 'n I told him I'd been sent