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Updated: May 31, 2025
Instantly Thursday Smith straightened up and looked at the man questioningly. Fogerty stretched out his hand and said, as if in wonder: "Why, Melville, old man, what are you doing here? We wondered what had become of you, all these months. Shake hands, my boy! I'm glad I've found you." Smith leaned against the press and stared at him with dilated eyes.
If Louise perished in this dreadful storm the proud Diana Von Taer could not escape the taint of murder. The end was not yet. Mershone and Fogerty plodded through the snow together, side by side. They were facing the wind, which cut their faces cruelly, yet neither seemed to mind the bitterness of the weather.
Fogerty eyed his retreating figure a moment, gave a slight shrug and resumed his newspaper. Day followed day without further event, and gradually Mershone came to feel himself trapped. Wherever he might go he found Fogerty on duty, unobtrusive, silent and watchful. It was very evident that he was waiting for the young man to lead him to the secret hiding place of Louise Merrick.
From the lane the tracks, already nearly obliterated by the fast falling snow, wandered along nearly a quarter of a mile to a crossroads, where they became wholly lost. Fogerty looked up and down the roads and shook his head with a puzzled expression. "We've surely traced her so far," said he, "but now we must guess at her further direction. You'll notice this track of a wagon.
"The great Fogerty made such a blunder the first time," said Hetty, who was overjoyed at the glorious news, "that he might give poor Thursday another dreadful scare if he tackled the job again. Let the mystery remain unfathomable." "But, on the contrary, my dear, Fogerty might discover that Thursday was some eminent and good man as I am firmly convinced is the truth," suggested Mr. Merrick.
With these words he advanced to the door of the little room and opened it. Just outside stood Fogerty, smiling genially. "Glad to meet you again, Mr. Mershone," he said. "May I come in? Thank you." While Mershone stood bewildered by this unexpected apparition the detective entered the room, closed the door carefully, and putting his back to it bowed politely to Madame Cerise.
Merrick thanked Fogerty for his skillful service and gave him a fat check. "It's a mighty interesting case, sir," declared the detective, "and I'm as glad as any of you that it has ended so comfortably. Whatever Melville might have been and his record is a little worse than I related it there's no doubt of Thursday Smith's honesty.
Most of all it's important to Fogerty. Don't worry, sir." The young man was forced to go away with this assurance. He returned home, but not to sleep. He wondered vaguely if he had been wise to lean upon so frail a reed as Fogerty seemed to be; and above all he wondered where poor Louise was, and if terror and alarm were breaking her heart.
Fogerty also took occasion to refresh himself, eating modestly at a retired table in a corner. Mershone's sharp eyes noted him. He remembered seeing this youth at breakfast, and thoughtfully reflected that the boy's appearance was not such as might be expected from the guest of a fashionable and high-priced hotel. Silently he marked this individual as the possible detective.
Better leave the curtain drawn, Miss Doyle, and accept Thursday Smith as he is." There was so much good sense in this reasoning that all three girls were impressed and began to regret that Uncle John had called Fogerty to untangle the skein. But it was now too late for such repentance and, after all, they were curious to discover who their remarkable employee really was.
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