Arizona republican., 1915-09-12

marked. "I believe that this girl, Esther Harding, Is the real and only heir to all that Col Stanley died possessed of We have proof of this. but I believe the gypsy woman, Hagar Harding, possessed such proof, and the girl now has it. Whatever this proof is. it can be assumed that the girl carries it with her. especially now that she has disappeared. She would not be likely to leave i'm portant document in any hiding place.
 We cannot move in the matter legally, for suspicious are not evidence" Mrs Stan- ley went on. Any lawsuit might mean the return of Arthur Stanley to tell the truth so far as he knows it regarding the death of Dr. Lee. You would be impl- cated, and the gambler, Abe Bloom, and the detective, Tom Blake evidently possess proof of your guilt For while the gypsy woman, Hagar, who has been imbecile since you struck her. had only photographs of the discriminating thumb prints, it is evil dent that Blake and the Blooms have the originals-the thumbprint on the bad check and the thumbprints you left in the doc tors study the cashbox and elsewhere. The price of their silence is the diamond when it comes to light.
 "Is this girl is the rightful heir of Stan ley, the diamond is hers, and if Arthur Stanley is impostor. the earldom in England is yours. Had Col. Stanley not been so bitter in his feud with your father your father not bitter with him, Col. Stanley would have been too proud not to have accepted the family tradition and turned the diamond to you the rightful heir in the child he ex- pected girl.
 "we are bound to silence owing to your rash and reckless acts. We must make the best of the situation. If a stranger has bought Stanley hall. the sale is not legal and if this girl Esther is the real Stanley. ha est fat he tOh hpr and ha diamond from the sky rightfully belongs to her. What will she care for the family traditions, if 1t comes about that she Is able to prove. ortdesires to prove, her claim? Doubtless she is keeping silent out of regard fer Arthur Stanley.
 There is one simple thing to do, Blair, you must marry this girl. Then you will have a clear claim to the title and you will also possess Stanley hall and the dia- mond from the sky. No matter where the diamond may be, it must ultimately come to light. You then choose whether you will surrender it to the Blooms as the price of their silence as is arranged. or buy them off from the wealth that comes to you the Earl of Stanley in England"
 The reckless desperate, and unscrupu- 1ous ancestor. the first Arthur Stanley, who had found the diamond from the sky in the fallen meteor 300 years agone, had a worthy descendant in the equally reckless.
  ley. Given two things to do, a right thing and a wrong one. Blair Stanley would congenitally prefer the wrong. especially spice of danger and even 1awless dishonor in it. In his relations with women Blair Stanley had much in common with his intrepid and absolute ancestor.
 It is to be doubted if Blair Stanley gave my thought of the great wrong he might do the gentle Esther in the furtherance of the cold ambitious schemes of his mother and his impulsive lawless ones. He cared not a whit whether if he should marry Esther such alliance would be bigamous and shameful in his mar riage with Vivian should prove subse- quently legal and binding. To get Esther and to get the diamond by such means, not to speak of the Stanley eardom in England. appealed to Blair. The thought of Vivian fighting for her rights the consort of an earl appealed to Blairs cyn- ical sense of. humor. He indeed a worthy scion of line that traced itself