There was no grave
crime committed in the land that he did not have a well-defined scheme
for apprehending the perpetrators. His "deductions" at Lamson's store
never failed to draw out and hold large audiences, and no one disputed
his theories in public. The fact that he was responsible for the arrest
of various hog, horse, and chicken thieves from time to time, and for
the continuous seizure of the two town drunkards, Tom Folly and Alf
Reesling, kept his reputation untarnished, despite the numerous errors
of commission and omission that crept in between.
That Rosalie's mysterious friends--or enemies, it might have been--kept
close and accurate watch over her was manifested from time to time.
Once, when Anderson was very ill with typhoid fever, the package of
bills was accompanied by an unsigned, typewritten letter. The writer
announced that Mr. Crow's state of health was causing some anxiety on
Rosalie's account--the child was then six years old--and it was hoped
that nothing serious would result. Another time the strange writer, in a
letter from Paris, instructed Mr. Crow to send Rosalie to a certain
boarding school and to see that she had French, German, and music from
competent instructors. Again, just before the girl went to New York for
her two years' stay in Miss Brown's school, there came a package
containing $2500 for her own personal use.
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