It asked if within the last two years a young woman had applied for a position as teacher in the township schools at Tinkletown.

A description accompanied the inquiry, but it was admitted she might have applied under a name not her own, which was Marion Lovering.

In explanation, the letter said she had left her home in Chicago without the consent of her aunt, imbued with the idea that she would sooner support herself than depend upon the charity of that worthy though wealthy relative.

The aunt had recently died, and counsel for the estate was trying to establish proof concerning the actions and whereabouts of Miss Lovering since her departure from Chicago.
The young woman often had said she would become a teacher, a tutor, a governess, or a companion, and it was known that she had made her way to that section of the world presided over by Anderson Crow--although the distinguished lawyers did not put it in those words.

A reward of five hundred dollars for positive information concerning the "life of the girl" while in "that or any other community" was promised.
Miss Banks's appointment came through the agency of the district's congressman, in whose home she had acted as governess for a period.
Moreover, she answered the description in that she was young, pretty, and refined.