Arizona republican., 1915-09-05
fCopyright. 1915. by Roy L. McCardeil.l
 CHAPTER XII.
"ro THE HIGHEST BIDDER"

"To THE HIGHEST BIDDER"
 HE impulses of youth are generous
 Not for himself alone did he who
 had been known as Arthur Stanley of Stanley Hall. Virginia. dream his
 dreams of wealth and power. "John rowelL" California millionaire to be. True. the factor of vanity especially strong when life Is young. actuated him in part. He had left the proud. old countryside of Fairfax. where. master of Stanley Hall. he had been an aristocrat of aristocrats. a fugitive accused of murder. He had felt no shame at this. for he knew his own in nocence and knew 1t could be proved. But the deeper shame that had driven him to this desperate course. was the shame at the thought that his life had been living lie He was not a Stanley of Stanley Hall. proud heir of an English earldom and the diamond from the sky He a gypsy changing. impostor, This had been through fault of his. but 1t his fault that he had wasted the fair heritage of Stanley Hall. heritage not his. and had left it bankrupt. He had stood and he still stood usurping Blairr !:eirship to all these things.
 It was perhaps vanity. and natural one. that inspired Arthur's resolve to re- turn to Virginia rich in his own right. teu the truth. the whole truth. sparing Blair from the consequences of being responsible for the death of pr. Lee. For Blair had assured him this had been the effect of sudden excitement on an old mans weak ened heart, when the kind but irascible doctor. alone with Blair in his study. had Quarreled with the younger man over the diamond from the sky.
 The impulses of youth are generous. Laying aside even his plans for his fu- ture realization of power and justification. Arthur's first thought was to employ the means he had at hand in the finding of the train robbers stolen pIunder. to aid Esther and his gypsy mother, bitter and cruel as the latter had been to him. Then he would save Stanley hall. ihe proud old place his prodigality had 'rnperiled. from the hands of strangers
 Whom should he employ as his trusted agent in these matters? He thought of the taciturn and inscrutable Tom Blake. the Richmond detective. Arthur remem- bered vividly how. at look from Hagar Blake had deftly aided him in escaping from the sheriff of Fairfax and the police of Richmond in the exciting encounter at Mrs. Randoiph's ball
 Arthur resolved to trust Blake. Reach ing Los Angeles with the outlaw loot. the first thing Arthur did was to wire the Richmond detective in guarded message He received reply il a few hours. which read:
 Know yod are ell right. VIII act for you in confidence. Trust me fully"
 Then it was that Arthur wired ample funds and instructed Blake to secretly guarantee all expenses for Hagar's treat ment at the sanitarium. irrespective of what Mrs Stanley might do. For Arthur had all particulars in brief by wire from Blake From Blake he also learned that Esther was seemingly in good hands with Mrs. Stanley at Mrs. Randolphs mansion in Richmond. and from the source he learned that Stanley hall In the due course Of the bankruptcy proceedings against the missing Arthur Stanley, was to be sold to the highest bidder. Of the money, some hundred thousand dollars. he had found under the skeleton of the horse fin the desert. Arthur placed s20.000 by wire St the disposal of Blake in Richmond with instructions to bid in Stanley hall ali hazards. and if more money were neces- sGsy. would be forthcoming.
 I.e could Stanley hall from stran- gers and aid Esther and his gipsy mother. both penniless and the bounty of