Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-06

e
this man wrayo, who appears. always
to have been q perfect master OF plausi-
btli,y. able to- twist people round his
little finger. somehow got into close
matters. wraye was at that time sort
OF financial agent In London, ENGAGING
in various doings which, 1 shouid I'M
ale was assisted in these by q man
who was either q. partner with nun OF
very confidential clerk or agnnt, one
Flood, who ts Identical with the man you
have known lately as Fladsate, the
verger Betwecn them, these two appear
70 have cajoled OF persuaded your fother
rt times to do very foolish anu 1hJuol-
cious things which were. to put u briefy |
ard plainly, tho iendings OF various sums
of money as short loans for their trans |
actions. For some time they inyariaoly
kept their word to him, and the advances
were always repaid promptly. But CVen-
tually' when they had oorroWSu o ,hn,,nn ,rois nns
OF pounds--for deal which was 10 De
carried through within couple OF days,
| they decamped with the money, ana com
rletely disappeared, leaving your ta,rmr
understand what followed: The money
which Brake had lent them was the
banks money The bank unexpectedly
| came down on him for his balance, the
prosecuted. He had no defense-he was,
| OF course, technically guilty-and he
was sent to penal servitude;"
Ransford had dreaded the telling OF
this but Mary made no sign, ana DICK
only raped out a sharp question
"TIe hadn't meant to rob the bank Tor
himself, anyway. had he?" he asked
| MOI no! Not at ALI" replied Rans,
Judgment on his part. Dick, but he
he'd relied on these men, more partieu-
larly on Wrayo, who'd been the leading
spirit. Well, that was your fathers sa9
to your mother and yourselves; Just
| before your fathers arrest. when no
knew that ali was lost, and that he was
helpless he sent hurr,edly for me and
told me everything In your ., morhers hcr era
you two children right away at once.
She was against II ; he insisted TOOK
you all to quiet place In the country
where your mother assumed her maiden
name. There. within year, she dleu
From that time until the morning or
his death here in WINCHESTER never
you did see him that morning."
asked Mary. ,
Il saw him, of course, unexpectedly"
ensyered Ransford. II had been across
tho close-I came back through tne
south aisle of the cathedral Just before
left the west porch l saw Brake so,
ing up the stairs to the galleries. /
know him at once. He did not see me,
and hurried home much upset. Unior-
tunately, I think. Bryce came in upon
me In that state OF agitation. have
reason to believe that he began 70 sus-
pect and to plot from that moment. Ana
Immediately on hearing OF Brake
death, and its circumstances, was
placed IN terrible dilemma. siIn "a ,sr Tor ro,
two of your fathers history until had
: been able to trace these two men anS
wiring out of them confession whicl
: would have cleared him Of all but tht
which he was convicted. Now l nae
} not tho least idea that the two mer
J were close at hand. nor that they nae
| had any hand in his death ,na ana SO On
J der the name he had taken--Johr
. Braden."
Ransford paused and looked at his tive
/, /, listeners as II. inviting question or com,
= ment. But neither spoke. ana ne wen
: You know what happened. aftel
! that" he continued. TT soon became
! evident TO me that sinister ana secre
9 death of the laborer-Collishaw Their
: were other matters, But even then
had no suspicion of the real truth--tn
fact is, l began to have some strang
: man Harker--based upon certain evi
a dence which I got by chance. But. al
= this time, ! had never ceased my inVes
, legations about Wraye and Flood, an
|
), had called In London was here at IN
inuuest, privately told him the whol
. . story and invited his co-operauon IN
!, certain line which was then following
That line suddenly ran up against IN
man Flood-otherwise Fladgate II wa
not until this very week, however. tina
2 my agents definitely discovered tlad
q q gate to be Flood-and that5-throng
. was found to be Wraye. To-day
II in London, where I met old Har
|, ker at the bank at which Brak
+ had lodged the money ne ma
!. was made clear by the last agent Q
= mine who has had the searching Il
- hand And 1t shows how men may cas-
A lily disappear from certain round
= When VIII W those two men cheated you
q father out of that money, they disap
a peared and separated-each, no doubt
> with his share. Flood went off to som
o Wraye went over to America. He evi
/, IDENTIFY made a. fortune there; knocke
=: about the world for while; change
= his name to Folliot, and under tina
mSrrsd so ,sr. wealthy ,S
} grow roses How and where he CAN,
!, across Flood again Ia not exactly cleal
r. but we know that q few years as
d Flood was in London. in very poor CIR
q | cumstances, and the probability Is tina
II 1t was then when the two men me
>, again. What we do know is that Fol
liot, as an influential man here, go
d Flood the post which he has held. an
ii that things have resulted as they have
And that's all all that / need te
IS you at present There are details, bu
,e they're OF no Importance"
a Mary remained silent. but Dick &c
y UP with his hands in his pockets
B. There's one thing / want TO know,
n killed my father You said 1t was AZ
ID oident-but was It? want to kno'
about that! Are you saying 1t was az
cldent just to let things down a DIT
Don't! I want TO know the truth"
'g Ransford "I listened most CAREFUL
It just now to Fiadgate's account Of wha
happened. I firmly believe the man wa
y telling the truth. But haven't n
d. least doubt that Folliot poisoned Coll
shaw-not tho least. Folliot knew tht
70 gate everything would come out ano'
rs himself"
81 well, Folliots done forV' he r.
! marked. II don't care about him, but
~ other"
" When Dick had gone, and Ransfoi
III and Mary were left alone deep silent
fell on the room. Mary was apparent
iivv deep In thought and Ransrord. atter
~ glance at her, turned away and locke
~ "a out OF the window at the sunlit clos
~, thinking OF the tragedy no had lust wi
II. messed. And he had become 30 sbsorb'
,d In his thoughts of II that he stArted
as feeling a touch Of his arm and lookir
r. round saw Mary standing at his side.
nd II don't want to say anything now
xe she said, about what YOU have Ju
es told us Some OF It had half.guesss
DIS some Of II ! had conleotured. But WI
ve didn't you tell me Before ~ wasr