The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-10-02
CHAPTER discontinued.

And that was when you began to
suspect" queried Raymer
THAT was when the suspicion be-
gan to torture me. I fought it; oh,
you don't know how hard 1 fought it!
There he was, lying sick and helpless;
utterly unable to do a thing or say
word in his own defense; and yet, if
he were the robber, of course, we
should have to give him up. 1t was
terrible!"
Il should say So" was Raymer's
sympathetic comment. How did you
get it Strengthened out, at last?"
1T hasn't been altogether straight
ened out until just lately-within the
past few days." she went on gravely.
After he began to get well, l made
him talk to me-about himself, you
know. There didn't seem to be any
thing to conceal. At different times
he told me all about his home, and his
mother, whom he barely remembers,
and the big-hearted, open-handed IA
ther who made money SO easily in his
professionals was the Griswold, the
great architect, you know-that he
gave it to anybody who wanted it
but l suppose he has told you all this ?"
NO; at least, not very much of it -
Miss Grierson went on smoothly,
falling sympathetically into the remi-
niscent vein
Kenneth went to college without
ever having known what it is to lack
anything in reason that money could
buy. A little while after he was gradu-
ated his father died.
Leaving Kenneth poor, l suppose;
he has intimated as much to me, once
or twice." said Raymer.
Leaving him awfuIly poor. He
wanted to learn to write, and for a
long time he stayed on in New York,
living just any old way, and having a
dreadfully hard time of it, 1 imagine,
though he would never say much
about that part of it. That is why he
thinks he is a socialist. At last 1 felt
that l just must know, at whatever
cost. One day when we were driving,
l brought him here and-and intro
duced him to Mr.. Galbraith. 1 was so
scared that 1 could taste it-but 1 did
It'll"
Raymer laughed. "Of course moth
ing came of it?"
Nothing at all. And then, right out
of a clear sky, came another proof that
was even more convincing. Do you
happen to know who the young woman
was who discovered the bank robber
on the steamboat"
II? How should l know?"
'I didn't know but she had told you, %
hn
Charlotte Farnham."
What" calculated Raymer But
he was not more deeply moved than
was the man behind the window cur
tains. If Broffin's dead cigar had not
been already reduced to shapeless in
utility, Miss Griersons cool announce
ment, carrying with it the assurance
that his secret was no secret, would
have settled it.
It's So" she was adding calmly. 81
found out. How do 1 know? Because
her father bought the draft at poppa's
bank, and in the course of time II
came back with the Bayou State Sc
curity's dated paying stamp on it. See
how easy it was!"
Raymer's laugh was not altogether
mirthful
'You are a WITCH" he said. 81,
there anything you don't known"
Not very many things that really
need to know" was the mildly boast
full retort. But you see, now, how
foolish my suspicious were.''
Raymer nodded Though he would
not have admitted it under torture, thu
entire matter figured somewhat as
mountain constructed out of a rattle
small molehill to a man for whom tn
subtleties lay in a region UNEMPLOYED
He wondered that the clear-minde,
little social climber" as his siste
called her, had ever bothered he
nimble brain about such an abstrus
and far-fetched question of identities
sYou said, few minutes ago. tina
GrisWold calls himself socialist Tia