The Holly chieftain., 1897-12-31
For orce in a way. Philip regretted

face was blandly inscrutable as he rose
and held out his hand. From the fact
that he was Immediately given high
backed chair facing the light of the
window, which made an expressiopless
silhouette of the lawyer. Philip argued
that the sign had been passed and un-
derstood; and the suspicion was con-
firmed by the first question he was
called upon TO answer.
What makes you think that our title
isn't perfect, Mr.. Thorndyke?"
Il beg your pardon; / had raised no
such question. 1t is merely matter OF
prudence in transaction involving so
much money that one should be well
assured of his title"
That is very true. The lots you
picked out are in a tract formerly
known as the Gates farm; you can read
the whole history of the tract in the
records at the courthouse"
Quite possibly; but one may have
neither the time nor the inclination.
A glance at your abstract would be
quite sufficient for my purpose"
Sharpless swung back in his chair
and slipped his hands into his pockets.
Il wish could oblige you," he said,
"but infer you've had little to do with
| property in Alabama. Such thing as
an abstract of title is almost unknown
among people who can neither write
their deeds nor read them after they are
written. 1 began just as you have, and
was glad enough, in the end, to fall
back on the records
Thorndyke knew this was an answer
that Sharpless would never have made
to another lawyer, since an abstract is
nothing more than circumstantial his
tory of any given piece of property
compiled from the records; but he was
too shrewd to betray his profession.
and he made no comment.
Il suppose you were able to satisfy
| yourself that your titles were all
right?.
Absolutely; we guarantee to de-
fend our purchasers"
"Will you allow me to look at your
deeds for the tract in question:"
II should be glad to, but can't do
that, either. All the original docu-
ments are on Gle in the company's Office
in New York"
Philip was beaten for moment, but
lie rallied Immediately. "Will you
authorize my solicitor to examine
\ them?"
Sharpless lost his head at that, and
Thorndyke gained his point. Ger
tainly not; such proceeding would be
unheard of. Our secretary would
promptly refer the gentleman to me-
| Philip rose and bowed courteously.
'I'm sorry we can't arrive at an under
standing; / should like to have those
lots"
But my dear sir"-Sharpless had
quite recovered his self-control and
was industriously cursing himself for
having made the slip-"can't you see
how unreasonable you are? Don't you
suppose that among our hundreds of
customers there are men who are quite
as careful of their rights as you can be
of yours?'
And none of them have seen these
deeds?"
Not q man of them, assure you.
Go to any of them, and you'll find that
| they've taken our guarantee in perfect
good faith"
ITO whom would you refer me?"
ITO anyone; to the president of the
Chiwassee national bank, If you
please"
"very well; I'll think the matter
over and see you again. Good morning" ="
When Thorndyke left the Office he be-
gan to fear rthattheearlierde deco, ,uponth
discovery of which the very life of his
case would depend, had been destroyed,
and there was small comfort in the re-
Election that there was no apparent
reason for the disappearance of both of
them. That from Gates to the town
company was undoubtedly genuine.
and he could not understand why it,
too, should be missing. He felt lteenly
the need of an adviser, but in city
where the interests of every other re-
sponsible person might be against him,
he was afraid to trust anyone. To be
sure, there were Protheroc and Dun
can; but the first was in the service of
the town company, and the Scotchman
had already empticd himself of what
ever suggestive material there was in
him. Philip expected nothing further
in the way of information from Fench
or Sharpless, but, none the less, he sent
a message to Col. Van Colt, asking him
to give prompt attention TO any inquiry
from Allacoochee. suppressing only
the fact of the scnder's profession.
When that was done, Philip found
himself once more among the uncer-
tainties. but he made another journey
to the courthouse for the purpose of
copying the missing documents from
the records. For two days he pored
over these copies in his room at the ho-
tel. searching with infinite patience for
some clew that would point the way
out of the tangle. a copy of copy
proved to be barren of suggestion, but
he made a memorandum of the attest
ing notary's name. and on the third day
he paid visit to Squire Pragmore.
Nothing came of it, however. The
notary's replies grew more indefinite
as the inquiry progressed. His memory
was at fault; he had acknowledged so
many papers for the town company
that he could not be expected to recol-
lect the details of any one transaction.
Thorndyke called attention to the fact
that the older deed antednted by sew
eral years the beginning of the rush of
business brought by the transfers of
the town company; whereupon Prag-
more took another fack IT was too