, 1917-09-20

ANN Pto'tuCu " tuIOuSu 80 many
years, to whom he had given a home,
had SO ungratefully r%epudiated his
almost fatherly love. On the morn
ing of May 2S Miss Farrar cashed the
$4,000 check. Mr.. Clay has not seen
he since, nor anyone else, SO far as
we have been able to discover. At
the moment when the young lady
passed out of this bank she passed
into obscurity. Our floor detective
has made some casual investigation.
He has found no trace of the move
ments of Miss Farrar later than IL
a. m, May %, no clew nor hint of a
clew as to her present whereabouts.
She has vanished completely"
The letter l asked for" said Mar
vel briefly, in his mandatory, decisive
way; and when l had prepared and
delivered it he left the bank without
another word, his thoughts envelop-
ing him in a silent, battling mood 1
knew his habits too well to intrude
upon.
The loss of $4,000 was not much
for an institution of our financial in
tegrity, and SO far as he was person
ally concerned u president would
ordinarily have been content TO
charge it off to profit and loss &C
count. However, when Resilius Mar
vel entered a case he was certain to
bring to light "the goods" or at
least some development that express
ed lucidity and satisfaction.
The bank was just closing that aft
ernoon when my friend r~eappeared.
| Ao hn oorna trt1 thA Drtvnt1 1aa-~ A.
president was just putting on his
gloves preparatory to taking his au-
tomobile for the club. He paused
with his usual genial nod to Marvel,
and stepped within the room and lin
gered for a moment.
Il presume it is a plain case, and
the bank is 100000 out?" he observed.
Hardly" was the prompt response.
"The case, however, calls for some
attention possibly several thousand
miles from here"
Then there is a chance?" was sug-
gested hopefully.
Il shall want the best man in the
bank and my good friend" replied
Marvel, placing his hand on my shout
der.
tid L Sl1CS yOu Say III
smiled our president. Its the girl,
l suppose-the forger?"
at is the girl, yes" assented Mar
vel. "As to her being the forger-
1 doubt it."
whats thatl" demanded the pres
ident, with a start. You don't LEI
to say"
81 mean to quote from the CONNER
cial agency patter: considerable con-
%servation should be exercised in deal
ings with
Warner Clay?"
Take it So"
rs that a w%arning?"
You might act on that basis until
you hear again from me-" said Mar
vel.
You amaze mel"
The president departed, thoughtful
ly drawing on a glove, an awakened
distrust in his bearing that indicat-
ed a shock.
Now, then, o and I will thrash
this thing out" he began. First.
though, make your arrangements to
bear me company"
How far?" l inquired, sorting over
my short and long distance travelling
satchels in my mind.
"Galveston-first. You will have
time for preparations. The train
leaves at 8. / only want half an hour
just now That is Miss Farrar." He
said, and drew a card photo from his
pocket.
"The young lady" I ventured.
sTe at Galveston or thara,ho,ts
I saw your esteemed bank client, this
Mr.. Warner Clay. I found him as 1
had pictured him: an elfish, misery
being with no thought outside of his
money and getting more. The man is
a financial pervert and sly and
shrewd as a fox. He positively well
coined me. Then he lied to me and ]
had him. / left him SO well salts
fled that his word was gold with the
bank, and that my brief visit was a
cursory and superficial bit of routine,
that he will gloat over his fancied
success for a week to come. When T
stated that We wanted to go over
his returned checks as a matter of
business system, he landed them
down on me with a frank willingness
that was almost painful. l ever got
him to give me several samples of
his handwriting. BY the way, did you
ever notice his right hand forefnger
and thumb?"
OF course I had not. Perhaps the
paying teller had. and I said SC.
Sometime and somehow our Mr..
Clay has slipped the upper joint of
that forefinger out OF plumb" mar
rated my informant. at does not
trouble him in eating, or cutting cou-
pons, or Tipping over interest money.