detecting?"

Theophilus settled that theory conclusively, in my mind, at least, for
I knew every man, woman, and child in the valley; and taking a mental
census, I could find no one who seemed to require watching by a
hawkshaw.

"Perry Thomas guessed he was an embezzler," said Tim, putting the last
dish in the cupboard and sitting down to his pipe. "Perry says Weston
is the best-learned man he ever met, and that embezzlers are naturally
educated or they would not be in places where they could embezzle."

"A truly Perryan argument," said I; "and after all, a reasonable one,
for no one would think of looking here for a fugitive."

"That's just what Perry says," rejoined Tim. "But Theop has read every
line in the papers for weeks, and he swears that no embezzlers are
missing now."

"Perhaps his crime is still concealed," I ventured.

"That was just what Isaac Bolum thought," Tim answered. "But Henry
Holmes says no missing criminal is likely to have a setter dog shipped
to him. He says such a man might send for his clothes, but he would
draw the line on dogs."

"Perhaps he has deserted his wife," I said, seeing at last a possible
solution of the mystery.

"That's what Arnold Arker suggested just a few days ago," returned Tim;