Old King Brady knew some things about the business which young Ed Butler did not know, and he was destined to learn still other things from a letter which the boy now delivered. "When father found he couldn't come he wrote this, Mr. Brady," he said. "My orders were to deliver it to you before we made any talk." "Ah!" said the old detective. "We will read the letter." He did so. It was quite lengthy. Harry noticed that the old detective read certain parts of it over twice. Folding it up and putting it in his pocket, at last the old detective turned to Ed. "Are you much attached to Miss Ethel, my boy?" he asked. "Why, sure--she's my sister," he replied quickly. "I want the truth," said Old King Brady. "Certain points in your father's letter require me to ask the question. Be frank and honest now. You were constantly quarreling, were you not?" "Sometimes we quarreled--yes. Ethel was rather hard on me." "In other words, if she were not your sister you would not be in the least attached to her?" Ed nodded, looking surprised. "Well, I will say then for your benefit that the girl is no relation whatever to you. Your mother, as you are aware, is your father's second wife. You have always supposed Ethel to be your half sister, but she isn't even that. She is the daughter of Mr. Rawson, your mother's first husband by a previous marriage." "Gee! I'm glad!" blurted the boy. "Now I can say what I really think. She's just horrid! I shouldn't shed a tear if we never found her, and that's a fact." "So there is one load off your mind," observed the old detective. "Yes, but why didn't my father tell me?" demanded Ed. "He had sworn to your mother never to tell you. He instructs me to tell you, so that, in a way, he may not break his word." "Poor pop," sighed Ed. "He certainly has a hard time of it. But what about Ethel? Is she here in Chinatown, as you supposed?" "I believe such to be the case. My partner, Miss Montgomery, who has been working for three days on the matter, is to report to us to-night. Disguised as a Chinese woman, she has been in a certain place where she expected to get information, and I have no doubt has done so by this time. We shall soon see her, and then you will know." "Am I to go along?" "Yes, by your father's particular request. He says this is the first time you have been to New York. He wants you to learn something of the city and its peculiar ways." "All right. I have seen enough of it already to make me think that I never want to see it again." "You decide hastily. If you have come directly from the Grand Central station, as I suppose----" "That's right." "Then you have seen very little of it, and that little under unfavorable circumstances. Wait for a daylight view of New York before you decide." "Where do we go?" "To a Chinese house around the corner on Mott street." "I don't see how your partner can work in with the Chinks. Of course, she can't speak Chinese?"