The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-12-13

That despaired OF solving. ] contln.
ued 10 stare Idly at the house until
stendhall had turned up the light In
his room. Then I abandoned my posi-
ton and faced toward home. At the
corner of the next cross street looked
westward. attracted by the brightness
Of The moon, and 80 chanced 10 see a
man coming out Of house upon that
street.-the third from the corner. II
was my partner. John Hammond.
II his manner had been ordinary I
should have followed and hailed him,
but he was 80 obviously daunted by
the brIlliancy Of the night and made
such haste 10 pull bis hat down no that
the shadow Of its brim might shield his
face that I was thrilled with q sudden
monstrous suspicion. and let him 60
upon his way.
II seems certain that some revelation
must have come 10 me before In order
that I should have been prepared to
condemn Hammond upon such evi.
ience. There was merely the physical
possibility that secret passage might
lead from stendhaii's portico TO this
house upon the street below, and yet
my mind would never have accepted 10
readily the suggestion Of my partners
treachery unless unnoticed hints Of It's
inception had been accommodating In the
remoter regions OF my brain during the
pas, month Of our Joint labors with the
Desborough case.
In the succeeding portion Of the night
I slept little and thought much. and m
a result OF II all I went next morning
at the earliest possible moment to the
Central Safe Deposit vaults. where we
kept certain documents Of capital I'm.
portance 10 our Affairs. Among them
was the original contract drawn near.
iy twenty years ago between Clarence
Desborough and Richard stendhall.
whereby the former ceded part OF the
control Of his business to the latter. A
dozen other men In the same field Of In.
dustry had committed similar indis-
crction, and then stendball had exc
cutcd the nrst grand coup Of the career
which raised him to such heights OF
wealth and power How II was done
has lever been dIsclosed-probably by
q trick as simple a. the commonest
slelght OF hand. The salient fact is
that stendhall began ut once TO AFRO
gnte to himself powers not delegated
In these agreements. and when the
victims perceived his intent and turned
to study their contracts not one OF
those documents could be found. Then
began interminable lawsuits. marked
By Incredible scandals. disgracing
many courts, but stendhalrs grip upon
that industry which he had planned to
seize grew always tighter. Some OF his
opponents became bis tools and waxed
rich: others were ruined. Two sue.
cumbcd TO the stress OF the unequal
. battle and died insane. One OF these
was Clarence Desborough.
by what means the Desborough con-
tract escaped destruction I do not
know. but II was offered TO the widow
by wrctched creature who had long
served s.endhall aud had been discard
ed My partner, Hammond. had Just
formed the acquaintance Of the Des-
boroughs and lad lost his heart TO Al.
Ice, who was never In the least attract.
"a toward him. The affair was put
into his hands. naturally took part In
the investigation which followed. We
satisfied ourselves Of the genulneness
aud Importance OF the document and
advanced 10 Mrs. Desborough the mod
crate price demanded. Its value was
In the millions. but the man who sold
Il cared little for money. knowing him
self 10 be on the brink Of the grave.
II Hammond was to play us false
this document would be the nucleus OF
his treachery, and Jealousy rather than
money the true motive. He fancied
that I had displaced him with Alice
but this was impossible for the reason
which l have stated. Indeed. no one
knew this better than he did In his
calmer moments, but jealousy ID kind
OF madness.
supposing him to have had a trea.
sonable interview with Stendhall, there
was a fair probability that The con
tract had been exhibited. and with thl
thought In mind went 10 the safe de
poslt box that morning The result
seemed to justify my susplcions, for
the precious document was not there.
I took post In convenient doorway
and within ten minutes saw Hammond
enter the Central company's vaults
When he had gone away again ] re
examined our drawer. The contract
was In Its proper place.
My plan was already formed. II
would have involved hazardous re-
posal Of confidence except for one for
tunate clrcumstance-the man whom |
must trust was my own father. He
was a manufacturer Of the costlIer
kinds OF paper and imperlshable parch
ments and an expert In Inks and sigma
lures and all details that mark the
authenticity or expose the fraudulency
OF documents. II was upon his opinion
that we had chiefly relied in the matter
Of the genulneness of the Desborough
contract. II was to him ! now carried