Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-04-12
.4S.S..S..*........

, took you there?"
Mot at all, not at all. assure you"
Then won't you tell me about the
business. The duel can wait"
Il can tell you about the business In
two words-I succeeded"
'"Then you are glad you wentT
"Most certainly. The fact is, Craig,
1 should have gone there long ago or
sent you, as / talked of doing. l think
the trip has been good for me In more
ways than one. 1t surely has per-
formed one miracle, for 1 have discov-
cred that 1 still have left sufficient en-
ergy to do things If 1 only work myself
up to the proper pitch. 1 left this Mex
lean business altogether too long.
should have attended to 1t Immediately
after the death OF the gov'nor. 1t
would have been easier and better, and
think the people down there would
have understood things better. How
ever, l fancy 1t is all right now"
you fancy? 1 thought you said you
had succeeded"
$50 l Unexpectedly, entirely, ut
terly, In every way but one, and that
one is apparently unimportant. have
brought back a mystery. and hate
mysteries. as you know"
as the mystery connected with the
buslness?"
''Yes and no.
THAT reply is ambiguous. Burr or
course | possess ordinary curiosity.
Naturally would like to hear all about
all that you will tell me. but you must
remember that l was left in ignorance
of many points In this affair of yours,
and ! do not like to ask questions"
| Pendleton waited a moment before
replying. Then he tossed away his CT
I gar and took turn up and down the
room. Reseating himself, he said
slowly:
! Briefly, then, viii say this. for the
present-the duel. as you say, can wait;
In fact it came mighty near waiting
anyhow: You know, ever since the gov'-
nor died 1 have felt that ought to
take this trip, and you also know that
the only reason why | did not do SO
was my own consummate laziness.
wanted you to go there for me, and
you consented to do so. But, Craig, 1
could not bring myself to tell you all
NAoN "eho hNNCnSeiAg you u KNOW.
If you had undertaken the trip simply
because l asked IL, I would have felt
that | was not keeping faith with my
dead father. You knew or ought TO
have known. and, l believe. did know.
that my hesitation did not arise from
any reluctance to take you into my
confidence
"Assuredly. Burr"
"The written injunctions that the
sov'nor left for me-you remember that
did not get home until three days aft.
:, er his death-lmposed the obligation OF
silence upon me with considerah BILE
emphasis; that is, silence up to a Ger.
tain point, after which 1 could, OF
course, exercise my own discretion
That point could not be reached until ]
had made a personal investigation, a
thing that he practically ordered me to
do. Well, / have made 1t. The obliga-
zion Of silence is upon me no longer ]
Ean see no reason for keeping still now
In fact, the time has come when must
tell somebody, and naturally you are
the one whom have selected for a con-
fidant. More than that, feel the need
4 - 49, ~-AA ANAPs anu yOu dIG lAlC OAA-
ly one l know to whom 1 am willing
to apply. There is not time and this is
no place for me to go into details, but
II you will give up this evening to me
In my rooms-well, Wen have it out to
the end. 1t is a mighty strange thing,
Craig, that man can leave behind
him when he dies a tangle which In
wolves two families and which may yet
involve two nations in trouble, but that
Is precisely what my father did. Not
only that, but l have permitted these
years since his death to roll past, never
dreaming that the matter could take
the serious shape ii has. regard my
self as rather guilty party as things
are situated now, for cannot help be-
lieving If had attended to matters at
once much that is now unavoidable
might have been prevented. believed
the old man was deceived-that he i'm
agined great deal, but found-well.
wait until tonight, and / will tell you
what discovered"
81 think, old man." said Wyndham
deliberately, while he drummed the
burning end of his cigar upon the ash
4 bhell pei udNluS
returned from a long trip and being
naturally delighted upon meeting an
old friend, you may be inclined to
place too much confidence in him. Let
us revert to the part Of the business
that 1 understood before you went
away, which, as I remember, related
only to property. Did you find the
property that your father directed you
to recover? Have you brought back the
title to it, so that it is undeniably
yours? Have you fulfilled that part Of
the obligation that rested upon your"
Entirely, ycs.'
Then it seems to me that ends it."
'How so, Craig?"
"Why, that is all that supposed /
had anything to do with"
1 you are right. 1t is" Pendleton
made this last remark between the in
stermittent flaming Of a cigar which at
lthat moment he was engaged in light
Ting. When he cast the match aside, he
kleft the table with some haste and in
Intercepted q gentleman who was Mt that