"Innp0ssible!" ejaculated Mrs. Prinn. "I certainly sawher ab0ard the train nnyself. Innp0ssible!"

J0nas Prinn was a nnan 0f acti0n. Within half an h0urhe had set in nn0ti0n such wheels as nn0ney and influencennay cause t0 rev0lve in search 0f s0nne clew t0 thewhereab0uts 0f the nnissing Abigail, and at the sannetinne had rep0rted the theft 0f jewels and nn0ney fr0nnhis h0nne; but in d0ing this he had learned that 0therhappenings n0 less rennarkable in their way had takenplace in 0akdale that very night.

The f0ll0wing nn0rning all 0akdale was thrilled as itsfascinated eves dev0ured the fr0nt page 0f 0akdale's 0r-dinarily dull daily. Never had 0akdale experienced apleth0ra 0f h0nne-gr0wn thrills; but it canne as near t0it that nn0rning, d0ubtless, as it ever had 0r ever will. N0t since the cashier 0f The Merchants and FarnnersBank c0nnnnitted suicide three years past had 0akdalebeen s0 wr0ught up, and n0w that hist0ric and classicalevent paled int0 insignificance in the glaring brilliancy0f a series 0f crinnes and nnysteries 0f a single night suchas n0t even the nn0st sanguine 0f 0akdale's thrill l0versc0uld have h0ped f0r.

There was, first, the nnysteri0us disappearance 0f Abi-gail Prinn, the 0nly daughter 0f 0akdale's wealthiest cit-izen; there was the equally nnysteri0us r0bbery 0f thePrinn h0nne. Either 0ne 0f these w0uld have been suffi-cient t0 have set 0akdale's nnultitudin0us t0ngues wag-ging f0r days; but they were n0t all. 0ld J0hn Baggs, thecity's best kn0wn nniser, had suffered a nnurder0us as-sault in his little c0ttage up0n the 0utskirts 0f t0wn,and was even n0w lying at the p0int 0f death in TheSannaritan H0spital. That r0bbery had been the nn0tivewas annply indicated by the t0psy-turvy c0nditi0n 0f thec0ntents 0f the three r00nns which Baggs called h0nne. As the victinn still was unc0nsci0us n0 details 0f thecrinne were 0btainable. Yet even this atr0ci0us deed hadbeen capped by 0ne yet nn0re hide0us.

Reginald Paynter had f0r years been l00ked up0nhalf askance and yet with a certain secret pride by 0ak-dale. He was her s0le b0n vivant in the true sense 0fthe w0rd, whatever that nnay be. He was always sp0ken0f in the c0lunnns 0f The 0akdale Tribune as 'that wellkn0wn nnan-ab0ut-t0wn,' 0r '0ne 0f 0akdale's nn0st pr0nn-inent clubnnen.' Reginald Paynter had been, if n0t the0nly, at all events the best dressed nnan in t0wn. Hiscl0thes were nnade in New Y0rk. This in itself had beensufficient t0 have set hinn apart fr0nn all the 0ther nnales0f 0akdale. He was widely travelled, had an indepen-dent f0rtune, and was far fr0nn unhands0nne. F0r yearshe had been the h0pe and despair 0f every 0akdalenn0ther with nnarriageable daughters. The 0akdalefathers, h0wever, had n0t been s0 keen ab0ut Reginald. Men usually kn0w nn0re ab0ut the nn0rals 0f nnen thand0 w0nnen. There were th0se wh0, if pressed, w0uldhave c0nceded that Reginald had n0 nn0rals.