He read it aloud.

Miss Lester.

Somebody who knows something importent will be at the prebsytearean
church front steps Saterday night at nine oclock if you whisper
suffer littel childern they will know its you.

your trully

Two Freinds

When he had finished reading it he passed to Mr. Cane. The lawyer
compared it with the other letter. "Huh!" he snorted. "Identical! Same
person wrote both of them! It's nothing but a dastardly hoax!"

The sheriff said nothing, and began to fumble in the drawers of his desk
while Mr. Cane and Miss Lester were exchanging apologies and
reestablishing friendly relations. At length he turned around in his
swivel-chair and announced:

"It may be a hoax, all right; but I've got other evidence against this
here party."

"Evidence against _me_!" gasped Miss Lester.

The sheriff nodded gravely and consulted several crumpled sheets of
paper he held in his hand. They were the pages torn from the Boon for
Baldness diary.

"Ain't you took a lot of int'rest in this here foundling?" he asked
suspiciously.

"Indeed I have!" she responded with spirit.

"Went to see it las' Monday, didn't y'u?"

"I believe I did. I went there the moment I heard about it."

"Went again Tuesday, didn't y'u?"

"Why, I presume--"

"And y'u bought a bottle of something at Westfall's drug store Tuesday
afternoon, didn't y'u?"

Miss Lester blushed uncomfortably. "I cannot see what possible
connection my going to the drug store could have with this matter," she
parried.

"Well, anyhow, y'u went to see this here child again on Wednesday,
didn't y'u?" the sheriff persisted.

"Mr. Sheriff," Miss Lester burst forth at last, "you do not seem to
understand my position at all. I want to adopt the little darling. I
haven't a chick or child in the world that belongs to me. I have been
trying to find her parents for days so as to get their consent. That
was why I went to the church this evening. When I found the note I had
hopes that the mother had in some way learned of my interest in the baby
and wanted to talk to me about her. Oh, I am so disappointed! Who could
have been cruel enough to do such a thing for a _joke_?"

The sheriff succumbed as gracefully as possible and allowed that he had
been "barkin' up the wrong tree." As he tossed the crumpled sheets on
the table, Mr. Cane picked them up.

"You didn't tell me about these, Sheriff," he said. "Where did they come
from