Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1899-12-23
CHAPTER VII.

Now Thaddeus Braddon, 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 fortune there till
1870.
He lived chiefly with a 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 1865.
II ever a woman died of a broken
heart, lit was Capt. Thorndike's wife
If ever an orphan girl was well disposed
Of, it was Capt. Thorndike's baby Es-
ther when the dying mother consigned
her to the care of her brother Thad-
deus.
He knew very well that he ought to
have a 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 a 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 a natural father and mother
combined.
No legal steps were ever taken. Thad-
deus Braddon was prone to be a law
unto himself. He simply accepted her
as his daughter, and that settled ii.
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
" 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
unind, 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 cas-
and west combined have sometime.
won, and took a position in society
fully up to her proud fathers ideal.
She was so important in her home anC
30 enthusiastic in reform and philan
thropic societies that she might neve
have thought of marrying at all had no
her father occasionally dropped SOM
suggestion about the necessity of som
one to lift the cares of home and bust
ness gradually from his aging shout
.ders.
He spoke carelessly, at the best, wit
a vague thought, in a general way, O
John Olmstead's nephew; but his word
made such an impression on his lovin
daughter that in time she came to cor
slider the selection of husband as th
most imperative necessity of her life.
Under such circumstances the seleC
ton was no easy matter. Human natuT
repealed her from each offer as it woul
not have done had she been free. Sh
had become vindictive with herself fc
being so critical and keeping her fatht
so long without the helping hand whic
he had asked her to provide, when, b
the luck which seems to follow SON
men, Richard Raymond appeared upo
the scene.
He came out of the west to watch Il
last months of that time-iimit safe
expire. BE smelled the bait of wealt
behind the heiress, and for incident
occupation he plotted what he or an
one would doubtless have pronounced
fated game.
He had nothing to lose, and, with Il
Eoarest possibility, why should he n
have ventured? 1t was beyond dou
that this time he was free to take
wife, and it was game at which he w
well trained. Nevertheless 1t is qui
probable that Richard Raymond W
the most surprised of any when
found himself accepted and the pre-
pective heir to Thaddeus Braddol
wealth, to add to what now amount
almost to the certainty of John OIL