I could not help thinking that I had to deal with a puzzle that was more than usually complicated; and Mr. Halford’s desire to screen the man who had robbed him, and so seriously jeopardized the credit of the bank, set me pondering very deeply, until I came to the conclusion that he had a potent reason for that desire, which, if I could discover, might help me very materially in my efforts to unravel the tangled threads of this interesting case. Necessarily I called upon Mrs. Pierrepoint. She was a middle-aged lady, with two grown-up daughters. When she heard what my mission was, she expressed her great surprise that Judson should have committed himself so deeply, and she gave me to understand that her youngest daughter, Ellen, was engaged to be married to him. She told me that Judson had
