, honorable and devoted to many more interests
than those connected with their own wealth. I also knew their hearts to
be wrapped up in this child,--the sole offspring of a long and happy
union, and the actual as well as prospective inheritor of more millions
than I shall ever see thousands, unless I am fortunate enough to solve
the mystery now exercising the sympathies of the whole New York public.

You have all heard of this child under another name. From her birth she
has been known as the Millionaire Baby, being the direct heir to three
fortunes, two of which she had already received. I saw her first when
she was three years old--a cherubic little being, lovely to look upon
and possessing unusual qualities for so young a child. Indeed, her
picturesque beauty and appealing ways would have attracted all eyes and
won all hearts, even if she had not represented in her small person the
wealth both of the Ocumpaugh and Rathbone families. There was an
individuality about her, combined with sensibilities of no ordinary
nature, which fully accounted for the devoted affection with which she
was universally regarded; and when she suddenly disappeared, it was easy
to comprehend, if one did not share, the thrill of horror which swept
from one end of our broad continent to the other. Those who knew the
parents, and those who did not, suffered an equal pang at the awful
thought of this petted innocent lost in the depths of the great unknown,
with only the false caresses of her abductors to comfort her for the
deprivation of all those delights which love and unlimited means could
provide to make a child of her years supremely happy.

Her father--and this was what gave the keen edge of horror to the whole
occurrence--was in Europe when she disappeared. He had been cabled at
once and his answer was the proffered reward with which I have opened
this history. An accompanying despatch to his distracted wife announced
his relinquishment of the project which had taken him abroad and his
immediate return on the next steamer sailing from Southampton. As this
chanced to be the fastest on the line, we had reason to expect him in
six days; meanwhile--

But to complete my personal recapitulations. When the first news of this
startling abduction flashed upon my eyes from the bulletin boards, I
looked on the matter as one of too great magnitude to be dealt with by
any but the metropolitan police; but as time passed and further details
of the st