The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-01-15
CHAPTER III.

.NI-I. II STA-
WANDERED DOWN Broad street
from the station. walking like
man in the duh stupor Of a dream

phians. Each human atom was intent
on his own business; the very hour ana
air seemed surCharged with workaoay
hustle
Above the roar OF traffic, the huge
tenfCa statue Of William Penn beamed
down upon his children from the CITY
Hall He and ]. alone, of all that mas
teniuE coucUurse seemed TO be idlerS-
Yet the statues own immobility was
little less Gull than mine Ny faculties
were still numb from the nights sleep
I,ss vigil that had followed on my dis
Covery Of the bond envelopes contents
Mechanically. I had left the Boston
sleeper AT the Grand Central station IN
New York had taken the SUBWAY 70
John street and thence had walked 10 the
Cortland street ferry Just IN time 10
catch an express TO Philadelphia
Now. in the husky forenoon. was
walking with equal mechanical langUoT
toward the Aaron Burr offices ] had
not breakIasted- 1 was tired in mind
and body
Little by little as / moved along the
familiar Surroundings OF the Quaker
CITY seemed TO bring me back 10 sanity,
10 awaken my mind from its shock
The bond envelope had contained no
bonds Nothing but SIX newspapers
Yet Mark had told me the bonds were
there when he put the envelope IN MS
Who could have made The substitu-
rIon2 And why And where had It
been accomplished
A furtive look into the envelope an
swered the last query Each OF the
SIX Enclosures was Boston newspaper
Of the preceding days date That set
tied the point as TO the time and place
OF the theft OF the bonds
Who had done it, The reply that
ca me first to my brain was vaughn"
But q moments reasoning convinced
me Of the wild imprcbability Of such an
idea Vaughn, Il is true, had suspected
Mark Of stealing the bOnds-had been
practically certain Of IL But he could
scarce have known that Mark had
brought them TO Boston. or that they
were al the bottom OF an otherwise uu-
disturbed saIchel under bed in our
room
No, 7 must-no matter how reluctantly
-acquit him And as I did so, a sicken-
ing idea broke in upon my tired brain
AaTk-and Mark alone-had known
where thar envelope was, / recalled
now with what suspicious ease he had
yielded to my plea for their return.
was Il likely that man VINO de-
hbeTately put family honor so lar be
hind him as to steal such a sum would
SO lightly have parted with his plum
der2
And, yeti had been sure Of his sin
cerity. And as the memory Of his
troubled, bOyish face came back 20 me,
l could nOt-IoEic 10 the contrary
sOciate such a trick with him
! gave up the question in despair, only
70 turn TO one far more practical
The bonds were utterly and irreJTiev-
ably gone Their absence must be
missed IN 2 very few days al most:
even II (as was far more likely Vaughn
uld not at once report The matter and
tell Of Marks act Indeed, Z was soreIy
puzzled 20 guess Why he had not already
done so
IN anv case the bonds were rona
Mark my brother had stolen them, and
Kari vaughn. the only enemy either or
US consciously had IN the world, knew
IL ne answer seemed horribly clear
was uumauIy enough in nv weary
despair 70 long to go 10 HHda Graves
20 tel her the whole accused story,
TO hear her sweet voice comforting me
It would be infinitely sweer-y-et 7 TTOTIf5
cut on my own head sooner than do II
Mark loved her She apparently loved
Mark For her sake I must make what
brother --''
Yes. and not for HiIda-s sake alone
- LOT lLsl or our mother. whose last
born, best beloved child Mark was For
she enshrined the lad I'm her heart of
lSdIIs- even as she enshrined the pride
OF our ancient name.
Failing the comfort Of the girl 7 lived
ana could never win. my heart vearued
lheNpreSSlDly for the mOther-loye that
mad never failed ne Grown man
thouEh I was I felt no shame IN that
longing TO creep 10 her side to receive
Hcr comfort her Affection to be bra~ed
~ hef encouragement Tor the battle
luaI lay before me
On the impulse turned in AT the ta7z
ET4ph-oflcc Of the MISREPRESENTATION
and scrubbed the following dispatch.
a~eS1 rs Rs Tlf,5T + e. -''z Mt Royal
Expect me at this evening All
IS left the hotel z1-,,,s - Z . = a.,
WIN Brock. head DOOkkeeDer at the
Aaron Burr I did not care esna-faIT,-
AOr the Fellow AT best He Vas x-s-7sJ1,-,-,-
60 intimate friend in the oeffCe a7,d
seemed more OF less inclined to share
and myself. i'- n
..-L,,1 had always avoided him when I
ClNlHy could Today Of an times
mad no desire Of sidewalk couve-se
But by the odd irony Of sUcb o.
caSIons, Brock nodded pIesSanrI,- ",
into step beside me
What are You doing in PhilsdeI-
pHla today: ne gueried- "I thought
YOU were due for al least three - -
~ joility| at Boston Lucky char, 20
Eei Sucn an outing while we moor
saves have 10 grind away hereI5-
mad TO get back 20 work a LITTLE
sooner than expected" I answered
Hard luck he consoIed- aB,st
nI sTen the only one Papa Graves
.tilhSelt has TO cut short his trim we
leleErapHed him late last evening
mace no reply scarcely needed
W-aI ne said Brock seemed trine
SS-.lil5iiteq at my apathy, for ne
S'sneso sideways at me. then took
Lots Of trouble at the Office he
mp you know ia
cont nUed- 1-S
-. LOTS OF bother ever those wretched
hat boudsy-
me question jerked itself iuvo1Unfa-
.sTI, III ~ Z, dfy lips
~ hittenhouSe bonds he re-
llld. eltd 20 have aroused nv interest
llst- ABOUT S65S,.s-s worth of them
lear I-elt with MS to he REGISTERED
ga man Rlttenhouse died last 7ic-f7+ ~
JppPieNF- and Papa Graves is one Of
us executors We don't I-noU IN he
----I. -l our offit~r OF az the deposit
100 ~ seems there's always some
l+Nat taliSle about bonds and Other ne
SYtiaele paper 2 zen = man dies and We
1870 80 illt, OUT where everything is {
for Il" ' Us
/ stopped short and Slowered doubt
fully - him. That Mr. Graves Should
De called home BY telegraph because OF