Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-28
The Lady of the Night Wind
Copyright, 1919. by the Macaulay Co.
opyriaht, 1919. by the Public Ledger {
THIS STARTS THE STORY


A house party is being given at the
country home of Katherine and Bing
ham Harvard Among the guests is
one Conrad Belknap. Katherine dis
covers him cheating at cards. Con-
vinced that he is concealing his real
identity and that he is there for some
interior purpose, Katherine deter
mines to ferret out the mystery. She
intercepts telephone call of Bel
knnp's to woman confederate
pamed Roberta. Realizing that he
is suspected by Katherine, Belknap
threatens TO accuse of crime her
brother, Roderick Maxwilton, who is
believed TO he dead. IL Katherine
makes any move against him. Har-
yard become suspicious of Bclknap
and Katherine's attitude toward him.
Roberta arrives on the scene under
the name of Senorita Cervantcz.
Belknap accuses Roberta Of deceiving
him. She admits the secret presence
Of Roderick and her love for RodcriCk
is revealed Belknap is suspected of
being in reality one Cransbaw Beld
ing, son of a father who murdered his
mother A stranger, whose face is !
marked with large scar, has come TO
the house under the name of Car
ruthers. He is thought to be Brain
ard. of the Secret Service. Belknap
is hidden by katherine in n secluded
lodge called the Ncst Roberta and
Carruthcrs meet secretly at midnight,
AND HERE 1T CONTINUES
g" WAS ~ond'Fin''" R"shtoo said to
his companion, as soon as they were
in. the open, ''if you was fgurin' on
tellin' me anything moro about that
guy. I could see that you wasn't ready
TO give il all up TO Ding Harvard and
Tom C1ancy-but me. That's different,
amt it?'
Eyes, Rushton. That is why came
outside with - you. This Cranshaw
Belding II have personally known that
Belknap is Belding for n long time; and
an acquaintance of mine has also known
IL. although neither of us was in q
position to prove it) has a long crimi
nal record, and n bad one II began
when he was a mere boy and he is now
according to my best information.
thirty four years old. He was born
with brains: he is supcrlatively intel
ligent and he has courage. | don't
think that he knows what physical fear
is; nor mental fear, either, for that
matter. He has good blood In him,
too--the best that Kentucky boasts, on
both sides of his ancestry. But he is
b,
born without morals. The combination
creates a dangerous character to be at
large. He is utterly inscriptions,
save in one particular, and that one
TO which ! refer is remarkable because
II is the one scruplp that one would
never expect in man of his Charac-
tcristics.'
Say, what is it-that thing that
! you're talkin' about" Rushton asked.
'Hc respects, and is known to be
fastidious in his regard for. women.
Ii is an anomaly in his general char
. acter, inherited, probably, from his
mothers family. At all events. he has
IL, as has been proved by his acts. many
sptimes. to my personal information and
belief
RushtOn grunted. II was plain that
he received that statement with a large
grain of salt; but the only response he
made was TO put another question.
DO you mind tellin' me what he's
wanted for? Why your department is
after him?' he asked.
Not at all. | have told YOU that
his criminal record began when he
was boy. 1t is. in fact, nearly as
old as he is. He was brought up and
trained almost from babyhood in the
family of a man who was probably the
greatest, shrewdest, keenest and ablest
criminal who ever defed the govcrnment
authorities-the most expert bond
forger, bill-forger and all around
eounterfeiter of bond plate. bill plates
and Of all sorts Of negotiable securi
ties that the World has ever known. -
Say, Brainard, you didn't happen
10 mean old BROOK"
Yes. He is the man I refer to. Hp
has been dead some years, now but
Eight or ten" Rushton interpo
lated. well, what do you know about
thatr'
The old man." Carruthers continu
ed, found in the young one an apt
pupil, venturesome one, and COM
petent successor. After the death Of the
old man the government believed that
all OF the counterfeit plates with which
he had carried on his business had been
rounded up and accounted for but ever
since then, at intervals-apd in widely
separated localities--a counterfeited
bond, or stock certificate, or a bill, or
something of that character, has made
its appearance SO, we have known
without being able to prove it. that
young Belding has been carrying on
the work of his teacher.
81 am giving you only a bare out
line Of things, Rushton, and there are
two more matters connected with them
which l want you to take into consider
alton. The first one is Il am speaking
ofhcially now, not personally, please
understand that that the name Gran
shaw Belding has always been re
garded by the department as a sort oi
myth. 1t was known that there was
said to be such person, or actually
was one, but no definite description o.
him could be obtained. There were 6
dozen descriptions of him, but each one
was totally different from any of the
others, and not one Of them could b'
relied upon as authentic. The Other
!. matter TO which / referred just now
8 : the second one. is this. Nearly two
Years ago an operative of the depart
-. tkn oh taf n