Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-27

he said II am grateful to you. Miss
, Adare, and ! shall look forward to
hearing from YOU
lie watched her buoyant little figure
rs she retraced her steps until She was
lost to view in the mazos Of traffic at
the corner. lie could not explain even
to himself what unprecedented impulse
lad moved him 20 take her into his
+ confidence and enlist her aid. Instinct
rather than reason had assured him that
she was to be trusted. Even at their
first interview he had acquired a lively
respect for her powers of disCernment.
He had SPOKEN in ali sincerity when he
told her Of his belief that she could
help him. for only in learning at what
hour and under what auspices the
woman now dead had returned to her
home could he advance a step forward
in his investigation. And Rose Adare
in her confidential capacity would have
more real information thrust upon her
than he could hope to CLEAN.
Paul stopped for Il chop and Il cup
of coffee at a nearby restaurant and
then entered the telephone booth. The
doors Of the Eastopolis Trust Company
, had closed at -, it being Saturday.
and Paul surnised that President Brad
dock would be in no state of mind to
brave any of his clubs, where the sole
topic of conversation and conjecture
would b" the murder which had shaken
/ the social structure of the city to its
] foundations.
He rang up the Braddock house and
quavering. ancient voice replied
''Mr. Braddock cannot be disturbed.
sir.
Kindly fell Mr.. Braddock that I
/ shall only detain him for few mo-
mcnts. have a message on private
matter from the chief of police
! There cnsued evidently hurried col
| lOquy at the other end of the wire, for
Paul caught the echo of an indistin-
guishable mutter which broke in upon
the buffers high pitched tones. Then
the latter spoke again.
/ Mr.. Braddock will see you, sir. if
! you can come at once,
The old mansion which had sheltered
, three generations OF BraddOcks was a
venerable pile of brown stone situated
/ on the corner of what had once been
the most fashionable square in the city.
1t was still exclusive, for the property,
of the deserters who had followed the
upward trend of more modern day
had been bought in by the old guard
which still remained faithful to earlier
traditions. and no bustling shop or
towering Office building had invaded its
sacred precincts.
Everything about it spoke Of perma
] ~e i
the nation and as secure. and to Paul
as he mounted the steps and lifted the
antique bronze knocker. there came all
incongruous thought of that other house
| a mile or two uptown, impudent in its
modernity but dainty and charming and
exquisitely appointed; the house where
woman Of mystery had sought sanctu-
ary and found the end of all things.
The butler was white haired and
tremulous with palsy. but he bowed
with a consummate blend of Difference
and patronage to the representative of
law and order, and led him up the wide
staircase to a library or den on the sec
Ond floor
\ tiguVe clad in purple silk house
robe rose from the depths of an arm
chair beside the empty hearth. Paul
was constrained to look twice before
he recognized the president of the
Eastopois Trust Company. The white
side whiskers struggled forlornly from
the flabby, pendulous cheeks, which had
assumed pasty gray hue, and the
sleek, pOrtly body seemed oddly limp and
shrunken, like a debated balloon. Brad
dock had aged in appearance ten years
at least. AS he peered at his visitor
and waved him toward chair he looked
full seventy years instead of the sixty
he had borne so jauntily.
You have come, of course about the
! property of that unfortunate young
woman 1t was obvious that he had
carefully rehearsed his opening remark.
II have been expecting some such call