Will Somers, the Boy Detective

A long and confidential interview ensued between the father and his two newly-discovered children. It was not easy for Jennie to take in the fact of her new relations. Such a su...

“I have been a very unfortunate man,” said old Mr. Somers, to a gentleman visiting him. “Not that I wish to parade my troubles, but I speak of them with the constant hope of rec...

No one in Mr. Leonard’s establishment was aware of the fact that a rat of a new species had made free that night with the contents of the cellar. Will, for reasons of his own, k...

The speaker was a boy of some sixteen years of age, a well-built, athletic lad, the sinewy development of his limbs showing through more than one rent in his well-worn clothes.

He had given up eating for the pleasure of interviewing. He had already had an earnest talk with some half a dozen of the boys, and now approached another, who was just entering...

It was at a later hour that same day that our young friend, Willful Will, met unexpectedly with Miss Arlington, the lady whose acquaintance he had made the previous day.

An old, well-dressed and fine-faced gentleman called at Mr. Leonard’s store, and stood looking irresolutely down the long floor, as if in doubt whom to address. A salesman appro...

“I would have preferred to have kept this matter quiet,” said Mr. Fitler, the officer. “But that cannot be done now. The robbery of the cloths is public property, and the arrest...

“I’ve got a deal to ’tend to, you see,” said Mr. Smith, confidentially. “Ain’t seen my city relatives fer two years, and they’re a bit r’iled about it. Good day, Mr.--What did y...

“I do not know what to make of this,” said Mr. Leonard, as he sat with a bank-book and a package of canceled checks in his hand. “I am positive that my account is not overdrawn....

Mr. Leonard was the proprietor of a large wholesale dry-goods house, on Market street. He dealt extensively in the richer qualities of goods, and cases of costly silks, rich sha...

Will had now given up his old residence, and was regularly located at the residence of his new-found father. The old gentleman was exceedingly happy in the possession of this st...

We left Will and his companion on a shed overlooking a band of conspirators. The long June twilight had just passed, the sky was overcast with clouds, and it was quite dark.

“Don’t move till near morning,” said one of them cautiously. “The police may have been warned, and we will need to be wide awake. Wait till the milk-wagons and market-wagons are...

“I think I will have these few cases recounted,” said Mr. Leonard. “They are new goods, and we can easily tell what sales have been made from them. Send Mr. Brown down here, and...

Jennie Arlington’s sorrow had worn off, and had been replaced by a sentiment of anger and bitterness of spirit. That a man like John Elkton should be seized as a common felon, a...

Mr. Leonard and the officer were closeted in close conversation. On this occasion the latter was in his ordinary dress. The fact of the loss of the three pieces of cloth was kno...

The room he occupied was charmingly appointed. Bookcases in rich foreign woods, well-filled with tasteful volumes, alternated with fine pictures and suggestive bits of statuary,...

“You have not been to see him in his present misfortune. He wrote to you, but his letter failed to reach you. I thought I would call and request you to visit him.”

Meanwhile Willful Will, as the officer had called him, was on his way to Mr. Leonard’s country-seat. He bore a note addressed to a Miss Jennie Arlington, a resident of the merch...

John Elkton had been a week in prison. His arrest had excited much indignation among his friends, who had a high opinion of his character. His silence, however, in regard to the...

It was Friday. The goods taken in the previous day had been examined and found correct. Mr. Leonard, however, in accordance with his promise to Will, had kept faithfully the lat...

It was two or three days after the last-narrated events that a slender, keen-eyed person stopped in front of Mr. Leonard’s store. He was dressed in grayish clothes, and wore a w...

Jennie Arlington sat disconsolately at a window in Mr. Leonard’s library. She was not alone. Mr. Augustus Wilson occupied a chair by her. They had been conversing for a short time.

It was Jennie Arlington’s first trouble, and it was a deep one. She was proud, in her way; that rare pride which shrinks from disgrace as from a pestilence, yet is conjoined wit...