Whereas I had now at least something to go upon, and enough for a long time to occupy my mind.

The difficulty was to know what to do first, and what to resolve to leave undone, or at least to put off for the present.

One of my special desires had been to discover that man, that Mr.Goad, who had frightened me so about two years back, and was said to be lost in the snow-drifts.

But nobody like him had ever been found, to the sorrow of the neighborhood; and Sylvester himself had been disappointed, not even to know what to do with his clothes.
His card, however, before he went off, had been left to the care of Uncle Sam for security of the 15,000 dollars; and on it was printed, with a glazing and much flourish, "Vypan, Goad, and Terryer: Private Inquiry Office, Little England Polygon, W.C." Uncle Sam, with a grunt and a rise of his foot, had sent this low card flying to the fire, after I had kissed him so for all his truth and loveliness; but I had caught it and made him give it to me, as was only natural.

And having this now, I had been quite prepared to go and present it at its mean address, and ask what they wanted me for in America, and what they would like to do with me now, taking care to have either the Major close at hand, or else a policeman well recommended.
But now I determined to wait a little while (if Betsy Bowen's opinion should be at all the same as mine was), and to ask Mr.Shovelin what he thought about it, before doing any thing that might arouse a set of ideas quite opposite to mine, and so cause trouble afterward.