The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-08
g The
 NOvelized by VIRGINIA LEILA WENTz
(Continued.)

k1d glove gTafterS, one of the mahof any table thieves
 Temples eye had caught the portrai of his mother over the mantel. Hi. mood suddenly veered to downright seriousness.
 Craven, I offered Crane $1o.OO0 to get some tangible proof from Brady's office. But I'd give a million. I'd : give every cent I've got to stand clear and be recognized as honest. Why, tell you, it's hell! I tell you I've worked. worked all my life. worked hard to build up my career on honest. clean lines. You know 1t. Eve turned my back to crooked ways when they were easily accessible. and now-I'm accused of being thief. the dirtiest sort of thief. the man who shoulders his crime on another" The muscles of his mouth twftched bit; he felt his control slipping away, go he turned abruptly on his heel and averted his face.
 The grim lawyer crossed over to lay his hand with almost a woman'S ten dcrness on the big shoulder of his friend, and his voice broke with sus- picion of hug'<iness as he muttered:
 Steady, old man. steady. We'll kick clear of 1t all yet.''
 When Temple spoke again it was in his customary even tone:
 Craven, it seems to me that if Granger certified that check he didn't do it for mere love. Must have re- ceived something in return. eh?'
 Something in return?' said the law yer dryly. Sure. and a big some thing at that. It was worth it.''
 'What do you suppose he did it with. then?'
 The lawyer shrugged his shoulders.
 ''The papers said he had a wife, I remember. Ever sec her?''
 Never did, said Craven laconicalIy.
 Suppose she's extravagant?"
 "Superhuous question: gEunted Cra- ven. They all are'' Craven was sixty and a bachelor by instinct, one might even say by heredity, for his father had succeeded in escaping mat rimony until close upon hfty-two.
 Temple smiled indulgentIy and be- gan elaboratiag his new idea. Tt has occurred to ne that if we could estab- fish that Granger has been spending or investing large sums of money late ly 1t would help our cause. That's why mentioned his wife
 Before he vouchsafed to reply the cynical old lawyer walked across the room and helped himself to a peg of brandy and soda.
 ''Your premise is all right, Temple" he sneered, but your conclusion is sappy. asirine. Wen try to find out if he spent money, sure. But we won't waste time in trying to find out if he spent 1t on his wife. The great trouble with you is that you're roman tic"
 Temple ncdded comrrehens:vely, the odd, quizzical. boyish uplift coming to his eyebrows again notwithstanding
 Dare say you're right" said he sim ply.
 "Of course it was a noble and high minded supposition on your part grinned the bachelor, ''and. having the marriage germ in your system, it was to be expected. You haven't a wife, so you naturally fancy the money would be spent on one. Granger has a wife. He naturally spends it on somebody else. Each man turns to the thing he doesn't possess
 Temple nodded again. Well. when you go into town on Monday. get the still hunt started for the woman, will you, old man?"
 ''Sure, you bet your life. But," he called back over his shoulder. as he was leaving the room. i've won't hunt for her in Westieid, N. J., where Changers home is; we'll hunt for her in West Forty-third street. New York;
 'And this wife of Granger's,' mur- mured Temple. left to himself, CT sup pose she has faith in him: they all have. I dare say it's she who's work ing behind this plan to get his pardon; doubtless she's somewhere now, pray ing for him, waiting for him to come back to her vindicated, an honest man. And I? Well, I'm fighting to prove his conviction just. and there you are! Queer little muddle 1t is, after all. this play of life. wonder sometimes if the great Eye mustn't get tired of it and the great Ear wearied of it. I wonder
 A light, firm knock at the door caus- ed Temple to wake from his reverie. His new secretary entered, ready for work
 From the first days of his association with the Gotham Trust company in an 1nconsequential capacity to the later
  cy, allies and rivals had found in Bur ton Temple a personal humility th1t was charming, but underneath it fight ing qualities that were terrible. He had the gertleness of a lamb and the strength of a lion.
 Immediately Anna Granger had recognized the second of these quail ties. Now. after some weeks of daily work with him. in the gradual unveiI- ing of the mans personality. she was coming to a sense of the first. Her feelings and judgments about her hO-. were beginning to pulse through her Enind with an energy th9t she seemed powerless to arrest. They did not make her happy: far from it, but they quickened and intensified all the acts of thinking and living.
 Usually. however. she succeeded in reca apturing herself. in beating back the thoughts which like troops on