l.'

As I turned my face cityward that morning I was not only fully
committed to the search for missing Gerald Trent, but I was determined
to convert my friend and partner to the same undertaking.

And having now found time for sober, second thought, I had also
determined not to relinquish my search for the little brunette and her
secret, nor for Messrs. Bob Delbras and company. Had I not
carte-blanche?

As I left the house, intent upon my new errand, I was not surprised to
see approaching it, almost at the door, in fact, Monsieur Voisin. We
exchanged greetings at the entrance, and I had walked some distance
before it occurred to me to wonder how it came about that Monsieur
Voisin, whom I had last seen at the bootblack's stand, two blocks
north and east, happened to be approaching Miss Jenrys' residence from
the south.

CHAPTER XV.

THE KING OF CONFIDENCE MEN.

I found a number of people at the big up-town hotel who could tell me
a little of Gerald Trent, as he appeared to them after a few days'
acquaintance; and these were unanimous in saying and believing that
young Trent was not absent by his own will.

'It's a case of foul play, I'm sure of it,' declared the clerk, to
whom I had represented myself as 'acting for one of Mr. Trent's
friends.' 'Cowles saw him at the viaduct, he told me, just before he
left; that was five days ago now, and Trent was then going down to
secure those rooms and see that they were put in order. He went by the
Suburban, because he wanted to go over to the avenues, and Cowles went
down by the Whaleback.'

There was no more to be learned up-town. Gerald Trent had been last
seen at the viaduct at the foot of Van Buren Street, where the 'cattle
cars,' the 'Suburban,' and numerous boats left the Lake Front and the
wharf beyond _en route_ for the Fair City. This was at ten o'clock
a.m., or near it.

I went back to the Fair City, as Trent had last gone, upon the
Suburban train; and before noon had begun an exploration, in the
vicinity of the north entrance, for the rooms engaged by him.

Bounding the Fair City on the west was the street known as Stony
Island Avenue, and after a short survey of such near portions of this
street as I had not seen, I satisfied myself that young Trent would
not have selected it as a place of abode for his lady mother, his
sister, and his sweetheart. One block westward, running south from
Fifty-seventh, was a short street called Rosalie Court, and a