It was a June day breezy, yet soiuewhat too warm. Tlie slow going old passenger train on the slow going mail route, that shall be nameless in these chronicles, seemed in less of a hurry tllan usual, and I, stretcl ed lazily across two seats, wit11 my left arm in a sling, was beginning to yield to the prevailing atmosphere of stupidity, when we rumbled up to a village station, and took on board a single passenger. I was returning from a fruitless mission and had stepped on board the eastward-bound train in anything but au enviable frame of mind and no wonder I, v l proid ed myscl f upon my sliill in my profession I, who was counted 1 y my chief the best detective on tlle force, sir,-had started, less than a week before, for o little farming nettle--ment in one of the interior States, confident of my ability to nnravel soon, and easily, a knotty problem. 9 I had taken every precaution to conceal lily icleiitity, and believed myself in a fair m y to unveil the mystery that Iiacl brought grief aiicl coilsternation into the miclst of tliose comfortable, easy-going farmers aiid I llacl been spottetl t the very outset I 11ad beell first a r n e di, n a geiltlcn-. auly but nilonymons fahion, to leave the neighborhood, and then, because I did not avail myself of the very first opportunity to decamp, had been sl otfr o111b el incal hedge Ailcl this is how it Ilappenecl Groveland, so alled, doubtless, because of the total absence of anything bearing closer resen blancet o a grove than the thrifty orcl ards scattered here aild there, is 3 thriving to nshiln o, t a town. Its inhabitants reside in tlie midst of their own Farms, and, save the farm buildiilg t, h e Io v, m mbl iug, sometin es picturesque filr n houses, 01-newer, nlore imposing, improvecl ancl often esqnisitcly ngly, nliite painted dwellings the blacksmith shop, opelatecl by a tllrifty farmer and his hard-fisted soils the pst-office, kept in one corner of the front room by a sonr-visagecl old farmers wife a1 1 the deestrict scliool-house, then in a state of qilicscence,-to vn institutions there were none in Groveland. The nearest village, and that an exceedingly small one, 11-as five miles -at of Gl o-claiids westenl boundary liiic nd the nearest railroad town lay tell miles east of tlie i stern bounclarv. So the Grovelanclers vere a community unto themsel es, A BAD BEGISNIKGI.. 11 filitl 11-ere seldom distnrbecl 1, y a rilq31e from tl e outside orld. I t was a yell-to-do comniuni ty. Most of its inllabitan ts Iiacl squatted there 1 11en t 1 1e land ms clleap and uneultirntecl, 2nd they were poor m dyo ung. Time, rail roads, and the grand mare11 of civilizatioi l iad ncreasecl tlie value of their acres and their owl1 industry had reared for them plcasa I t on eosv, erflowing granaries, barns goor1 enoogli to lire in, orcl arcls, vineyards, all manner of coinforts ancl blessings. Strong soils and fair daughters had grown up aroond then1 every man linew rr his neighbor, ancl had known him for years. riey shared in their neigliborl ood jovs ailcl griefq, and made common cause at vecldin sf, i lner ls, threshings, l oslcings, eider mnl ings, everythi lg. One vollld suppose it difficlilt to have 2 secret in Groveland, and yet a mystery had eollle arnoilg them.. , Squire E ing, squire by courtesy, lived in a fine new rvllite llollse on a filie fa, rin in the very center of the town- ship. His fanlily con istecl of his wife, two daughters, the eldest, eighteen, the poonger, fifteen, and two sons, boys of twelve ancl ten...