X Y Z A DETECTIVE STORY

I.

THE MYSTERIOUS RENDEZVOUS.


Sometimes in the course of his experience, a detective, while engaged in
ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue
to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or
with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I
am now about to relate.

For some time the penetration of certain Washington officials had been
baffled by the clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who had
inundated the western portion of Massachusetts with spurious Treasury
notes. Some of the best talent of the Secret Service had been expended
upon the matter, but with no favorable result, when, one day, notice
was received at Washington that a number of suspicious-looking letters,
addressed to the simple initials, X. Y. Z., Brandon, Mass., were being
daily forwarded through the mails of that region; and it being deemed
possible that a clue had at last been offered to the mystery in hand, I
was sent northward to investigate.

It was in the middle of June, 1881, and the weather was simply
delightful. As I stepped from the cars at Brandon and looked up the long
straight street with its double row of maple trees sparkling fresh and
beautiful in the noonday sun, I thought I had never seen a prettier
village or entered upon any enterprise with a lighter or more hopeful
heart.

Intent on my task, I went straight to the post-office, and after coming
to an understanding with the postmaster, proceeded at once to look over
the mail addressed to the mysterious X. Y. Z.

I found it to consist entirely of letters. They were about a dozen in
number, and were, with one exception, similar in general appearance and
manner of direction, though inscribed in widely different handwritings,
and posted from various New England towns. The exception to which I
allude had these few extra words written in the lower left-hand corner
of the envelope: "_To be kept till called for._" As I bundled up the
letters preparatory to thrusting them back into the box, I noticed that
the latter was the only one in a blue envelope, all the others being in
the various shades of cream-color and buff.