The Washington herald., 1911-01-08

| well. Then one morning two letters cam,
one a curt one from my uncle, sayins
he wished to see me at once, and The
other for my wife. from my cousin, say
ing she might expect her about IL in the
morning. So it happened that the train:
in which Beatrice and l Travelled passed
when 1 got to Arlington Hall / found
my uncle furious. He accused me of hav'
ing forged a check-in his name-for G5O0
He showed me that it had been paid tc
! the man whom l owed the ESQ. and
| discovered that he knew Of the gambling
debt, but that Beatrice had never asked
him to help me. and only named it wher
my uncle told her check had been
! forged. Then she had explained that
| owed this man a gambling debt.
My uncle accused me OF having forged
his name. and he told me he should have
| prosecuted but for the name / bore. Then
! he ordered me out of the house and told
! me that neither / nor my son would ever
! inherit the Arlington estate, but that his
J half-brother's son would be his heir. That
man was Robert Shenstone. whom you
| have known as Judge Shenstone.
1T was useless trying to defend my
| self: nothing remained but to go before
| the servants were ordered to turn me out.
OF course. they knew there was a bitter
quarrel going on, as my uncle spoke
| loudly in his anger which / believe was
as much disappointment as anything. He
| had loved me, and he believed 1 was a
! forger
! Il took the train back to town, hoping
! to be in time 20 See Beatrice and tell her
what l thought of her perfidy. I knew
| now that she had been working to turn
/ my uncle against me. though why she
! should do it was a puzzle to me. I be-
lieved. moreover. that she had forged the
check and contrived to throw the sus-
picion on me. The motive was the only
weak point. Why should my cousin de-
sire to do me an injury I asked myself.
"On arriving at home the landlady told
me that my wife and child and cousin
had left early in the afternoon: the for
mer had taken some luggage, and there
was a letter for me-
I'm that letter your mother accused me
of infidelity to her, AMI of being gam
bier and a forger. She then said that she
would never live with me again. and If
possible she would never look on my face
again. that her son should never know
the man who was unworthy of father
hood. but away from my influence she
would bring him up to be a good man.
THE letter ended in a statement that
if ] traced her and the law forced her
to live with me, or give up the child, she
would poison herself and her son. This
letter opened my eyes. l saw now that
Beatrice Shenstone had done this as she
had made mischief between myself and
uncle, and / knew now that the motive
was jealousy: she had not forgiven me
putting another woman in the place she
had hoped to occupy. but my wife's letter
was full of bitterneSs-Beatrice had
done her work well-that / felt she would
not believe me if i denied the truth of
what she had heard. so I decided to wait
and do all i'm my power to prove that l
had not been guilty of forging the check
Then. when my innocence was proved. l
would seek my wife. and try to make
her believe that 1 was innocent Of all,
save gambling for brief space.
six months elapsed: then I got the
envelope in which the check had been
delivered, and stuck to the bottom was a
small piece of paper that had not been
noticed until 1 examined it closely. On
this paper my uncle's name had been
written by Beatrice in her natural hand
it was evidently a small portion of a
sheet of note paper on which she had been
practicing. I sent the envelope and paper
to my uncle in a registered letter; I was
afraid of my cousin getting it into her
possession.
"A week later I received note in which
were written the words:
r " i Will see you Tomorrow afternoon
I was away when the letter came, and
did not get back to my lodgings until
O'Clock: then I rushed back to the sta
ton and caught the first train to Alling-
ton. 1t was o'clock on a winter after
noon when l arrived there, and was at
once shown into the library where my
uncle received me. but he did not speak
until after the butler had gone. Then he
told me that he had charged Beatrice
with having forged the check and thrown
the blame on me, that she had confessed,
and he intended to destroy the will he
had made leaving the Arlington estate to
Robert Shenstone.
For a long time We talked. He said he
would help me to find my wife and child.
At last he looked at the clock, saying:
. PAUL. was called Paul in those
days; John Is my second name-T don't
wish you to meet Beatrice: shall send
her to live with some Of her mothers re-
lations. so you had better 60 before din |
ner. You might as well go ont by way !
Of the veranda, SO that there will be no |
danger Of your meeting In the hail.
Il acquiesced. and shaking hands with |!
him. opened the French window anu !
stepped on to the veranda. As l left the |
park, heard the train whistle out OF Al |!
linEton station SO resolved to walk to
the next village. Millmoor. rather than |
wait about, but my thoughts were busy |
with what had passed. and the happy |
fd1ure that ! believed awaited n1s.,so that]
took the wrong turn. auo the result |
ms that went out Of ny NeV and -
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