Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-11-14
CHAPTER VII.

Now Thaddeus Rraddon, the rejected
lover OF Stanton's mother, and John
Olmstead's best friend, was very rich
man in the far west, even when Mary
Olmstead married her farmer; and he
kept on piling up a fortune there till
1870.
He lived chiefly with married sister,
the wife of the famous Capt. Thorndike,
in Albecco. He was living with his Sis
ter when the daring captain was shot,
on the plains, in 1868.
Ii ever woman died of a broken
heart, it was Capt, Thorndike's wife.
If ever an orphan girl was well disposed
of, it was Capt: Thorndike's baby Es-
Their when the dying mother consigned
her to the care of her brother Thad-
deus,
He knew very well that he ought to
have wife to help him along with the
baby; but that was one step he would
not have taken If all the orphans in the
world had been left on his hands.
As O. girl, as a maiden, as another's
wife, and now over in the spirit land,
he had loved one and only one, and he
proposed to continue to the end. In
default of this, however, he lavished
every thought and precaution possible
upon his niece.
She called him papa" from the first
lisping words she spoke, and loved him
even more, perhaps, than she could
have loved natural father and mother
combined.
No legal steps We're ever taken. Thad-
deus Braddon was prone to be law
unto himself, He simply accepted her
as his daughter, and that settled 1t.
There was no attempt at concealment,
but the world at large soon forgot that
she was not actually his daughter, and
by the time they came east again and
settled in Brooklyn they had very near
ly forgotten it themselves. To her best
friends she was Esther. To everyone
else she was simply Miss Braddon,
daughter of Braddon, of Braddon &
Burridge, one of the strongest banking
houses of New York.
Braddon started the bank, originally,
simply as an occupation for an active
mind, but it soon became one of the
most important factors of Wall street.
To him that had was given, and Brad
don's wealth and influence constantly
increased.
Esther developed into one of the rare
and beautiful victories which the east
and west combined have sometimes
won, and took position in society
fully up to her proud fathers ideal.
She was SO important in her home and
so enthusiastic in reform and philan-
thropic societies that she might never
have thought of marrying at all had not
her father occasionally dropped some
suggestion about the necessity Of some
one to lift the cares of home and bust
ness gradually from his aging shout
ders.
He spoke carelessly, at the best, with
vague thought, in general way, of
John Olmstead's nephew; but his words
made such an impression on his loving
daughter that in time she came to con-
slider the selection of a husband as the
most imperative necessity Of her life,
Under such circumstances the selec-
ton was no easy matter. Human nature
repealed her from each offer as it would
not have done had she been free. She
had become vindictive with herself for
being SO critical and keeping her father
so long without the helping hand which
he had asked her to provide, when, by
the luck which seems to follow some
men, Richard Raymond appeared upon
the scene.
He came out of the west to watch the
last months Of that time-limit safely
expire. He smelled the bait of wealth
behind the heiress, and for incidental
occupation he plotted what he or any
one would doubtless have pronounced
fated game.
He had nothing to lose, and, with the
barest possibility, why should he not
have ventured? It was beyond doubt
that this time he was free to take a
wife, and 1t was game at which he was
well trained. Nevertheless it is quite
probable that Richard Raymond was
the most surprised of any when he
found himself accepted and the pros
pective heir to Thaddeus Braddon's
wealth, to add to what now amounted
almost to the certainty of John Ohm
stead's millions.
Miss Braddon was not little sur
prised, herself, and not especially well
satisfied. 1t had been rather dcsper-
nte leap with her eyes shut. The gal