The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1910-10-20

f10 anu l<OulBO uAQ no COuVeTB8IlOu
together until that night. Gertrude
and Alex-I mean Jack-had gone for
. walk. although 1t was nine o'clock.
and nybody but pair of young geese
would have known that dew was fall
ing. and that it is next to impossible
to get rid of q summer cold.
At half after nine. growing weary
Of my own company, l went down.
stairs to find the young people. At
the door of the living room l paused.
Gertrude and Jack had returned and
were there. sitting together on 4
divan, with only one lamp lighted.
They did not see or hear me. and l
But here again I was driven back.
Louise was sitting in a deep chair,
looking the happiest had ever seen
her, with Halsey on the arm of the
chair, holding her close.
The next day, by degrees, got the
whole story.
Paul Armstrong had a besetting
evil--the love Of money. Common
enough, but he loved money, not for
what 1t would buy, but for its own sake.
An examination of the books showed
no Irregularities in the past year
since John had been cashier, but be-
fore that, in the time of Anderson, the
old cashier. who had died. much
strange juggling had been done with
the records. The railroad in New
Mexico had apparently drained the
bankers private fortune, and he de-
termined to retrieve 1t by one stroke.
This was nothing less than the loot
ing Of the banks securities, turning
them into money, and making his es-
cape.
But the law has long arms. Paul
Armstrong evidently studied the situa-
ton carefully. Just as the only good
Indian is a dead Indian, SO the only
safe defaulter is a dead defaulter. He
decided to die. to all appearances, and
when the hue and cry subsided, he
would be able to enjoy his money al.
most anywhere he wished.
The first necessity was an accom-.
plice. The connivance Of DR.. Walker
was suggested by his love for Louise.
The man was interruptions, and with
the girl as bait, Paul Armstrong
soon had him fast. The plan was ap-
parently the acme of simplicity: A
small town in the west, an attack Of
heart disease, a body from a medical
college dissecting room shipped in =
trunk to DR.. Walker by a colleague in
San Francisco, and palmed OF for the
supposed dead banker. What was
simpler?
The woman, Nina Darlington, was
the cog that slipped. What she only
suspected, what she really knew, we
never learned. She was a chamber
maid in the hotel at c., and it was
evidently her intention to blackmail
DR.. Walker. His position at that time
was uncomfortable: To pay the won.
an to keep quiet would be confession.
He denied the whole thing, and she
went to Halsey.
1t was that that had taken Halsey
to the doctor the night he disap-
peared. He accused the doctor of the
deception, and, crossing the lawn. had
said something cruel to Louise. Then,
furious at her apparent connivance,
he had started for the station. Dr..
Walker and Paul Armstrong-the lat
ter still lame where had shot him
hurried across to the embankment,
certain only Of one thing. Halsey must
not tell the detective what he sus-
pected until the money had been re-
moved from the chimney room. They
stepped into the road in front of the
car to stop 1t, and fate played into
their hands, The car struck the train,
and they had only to dispose of the
unconscious figure in the road. This
they did A. l have told. For three