The Snowflake herald., 1920-05-14
A NOVEL
SIGNATURE.
By GENEvIEvE ULMAR.

envied Rolfe Dysart | was not
coVetous of his many diamonds and
expensive attire and the free and easy
way IN which he flung about his money,
nut begrudged him the favor ana
good Will he had won from the one
ialiiily IN the world in which was
lnteresled-Mr. and Mrs Robert Bran
don and their daughter. Adela.
bESaft had flashed in among our
littie brokerage group made up of
young fellows who had ventured into
I independent business with little capitaI
nut nigh hopes. He had appeared with
no one knowing anything of his ante
cedents claimed to have been with
reading eastern bond house and boasted
OF wealthy, and even titled relatives
I IN London. He rented an elaborate of
I nee, hlade money from the start and
attracted many friends. 1t was | who,
4 eaptl ated by his friendly ways. intro
/ duce him to the Brandons, too late
regretting it. for. unconsciously per-
maps ne won away from me my lady
! love.
TOT that | had any claim on Adela
| ard not that she seemed particularly
taken with him, but his glare and
glitter caught the old folks and their
manner plainly showed that they fa-
Nored his pretensions | bore Dysart
no grudge because he had supplanted
me, for doubted if he or anybody else
guessed the secret of my preference
Tor Adela. However. as I became bet
ter acquainted with him analyzed his
nature more studiously. and | noted
half hidden defects and learned that
some of his claimed former connections
would not bear close scrutiny.
| had practically about abandoned
the field so far as Adela was CON
cerned, for her father tacitly ignored
me when we met and Mrs Brandon
exerted herself to make Dysart well
come. My calls at their home began
to De restricted and nfrequent. and
whenever I met Adela in society she
was friendly and indulgent
| shall never forget the day when
a new client entered my Office with
sailor like gait and outlandishly mis-
fitting garments, although of rich tex
ture. He was swarthy. time beaten,
evidently a foreigner, and when he
spoke employed a broken almost un-
intelligible lingo However he ran
the tape on the ticker through his fin
gers in way that showed he was not
unfamiliar with it and propounded the
query
market eighty-seven on Union Con
solidated?"
"Yes." l assented, with accrued
dividends"
''Buy me one hundred shares" he
ordered. and placed card before me
bearing the printed legend: "Zeno
Blecha Hotel Elisnore" Then he drew
out a check book. did some figuring
presented the sum of his calculation
for the shares and added:
"Fil out the amount. will you?'
'Why do you not write?" inquired
curiously.
"Oh, can sign all right" he re-
Piled casually. and took back the check
when | had done his bidding
Then this unique client went through
an unusual and interesting program
He picked up the pen | had used and
laboriously and clumsily spelled out
in print letters the name "Zeno
Blecha" That done, he produced
small metal box and opened its cover,
revealing an ink pad saturated with
a dark red liquid Into this he pressed
the thumb of his rather ungainly right
hand As he did so, ] caught sight of
its surface Some injury had left a
deep criss-cross star on the abrased
flesh. He pressed the thumb against
the pad tried an impress on the desk
blotter, and then upon the check direct
ly under his signature.
''You see" he explained with a
whimsical smile, "anybody could print
out the signature of a man who does
not understand script, but my thumb
mark is an unqGestionable identified
ton. | will call for the stock tomor-
row." and he strolled to the inner office
70 look over financial journal. A
moment later Rolfe Dysart appeared,
a memorandum slip in his hand.
"Any Commonwealth PreferredY' he
asked and then gave a great start.
saw him pale, shiver, and his eyes
bulged as they rested upon the thumb
print on the blotter.
"Where did you get that!' he gasped.
The man in the other room uttered a
cultural cry and dashed into the outer
office.
"You scoundre1!'' he shouted in wild
rage. but Dysart had turned and
sprung through the doorway, his pur-
suer more clumsily following him.
/ had not recovered from my amaze
ment when, pale and breathess, Zeno
Rlecha returned. He asked the use
of my telephone. ! listened While ne
called up the police, gave a descrip-
tion of Dysart. who had sWindled him
out of a large sum in New York and
offered a reward for his apprehension
heard nothing of either my strange