Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1920-04-16


trouble. I must tell someone. 1 don't
know what to dol"
'"The only thing to do," suggested,
sis to begin at the beginning and tell
me the whole story. I've sisters of my i
own. Just pretend you are one of my
sisters and let me help you"
She looked at me thoughtfully,
studying me as if questioning wheth-
er or not was to be trusted, and ap-
parently deciding in the affirmative,
told me an amazing story.
"Its all about my sister, Claire" she
began. ''She's five years older than
I. She's a lovely girl, but she's-that
is, she used to be-impulsive, roman
tic, and headstrong. She and my
mother never got along well together,
and she was sent away to boarding
school. One winter, it was six years
ago, mother was in Europe and only
Dad and 1 were at home :. :"
She sighed sadly. Evidently her
words were bringing back to her mo-
ments Of heartache.
''To make a long story short, Claire
ran away from the school and mar
ried-married French chauffeur en-
ployed by a family in the neighbor-
hood. She took me into her conf
dence a week later. and I-well, told
dad. There was a terrible time about
it all. Dad found out that her hus-
band was already married, had a wife
oJ,i 1.;o in, a;4, II
had the marriage annulled and man
aged to keep everything out of the pa
pers. He threatened Claire's husband
with prison and made him go back to
France. Dad was simply wonderful
No one knew anything about Claires
cipal of the school, and the judge
down in Nassau county, who ordered
the marriage annulled. Dad kept moth
er abroad until after it was all over,
and to this day she never has heard
word about it."
"Your father must be a wonderful
man." said enthusiastically.
''He was," she said simply. "He has
been dead two years."
"Oh, I'm so sorry" I cried, 4" 1 did
not know"
"If Dad were alive he would know
what to do. You see, when he died.
there was not much money left. We're
really little better than paupers.
We've been living from day to day on
our tiny capital, and Mother has been
working every wire to arrange a good
match for Claire. I wanted to dc
something, to go out and earn a Iivins
for myself, but she never would con
sent She insisted I'd be damaging
Claire's prospects if I went into trade
as she calls it, and I promised her Pt
do nothing until after Claire is safely
married"
1 "And is she to be married?'' asked
"She was to be, but now 1 dom
know. She is engaged to marry youne
Harry D. Thayer, who is worth a lot
of money, but someone has found oui
about her secret"
''How did they find out?" I asked
eagerly. I understood now the mystic
rious meeting in the park that hat
brought me first into touch with Bar
bara Bradford. Some band of rascal
was trying to blackmail Claire Brad
ford, and her sister was trying to saw,
her.
That's the greatest mystery of ALL
exclaimed Miss Bradford. 'Befor,
Dad died he turned over to me all th'
papers about the annulment of Claire
marriage. Somehow he seemed tt
z rely on me far more than on eithel
Mother or Claire. He explained t,
me the Importance of always keepin'
them, in case the past should eve
crop up, but he charged me to see tina
they always were safely put ava,
where no one could find them"
"Where did you keep them?"
asked.
"In the wall safe in my sitting
room"
"In the wall safe!' I cried, think
ing in bewilderment of the coinci
,, dence that these papers should hav
had a similar hiding place to the Gas
ton jewels which had vanished s.
strangely.
"Yes," she answered, plainly puzzle'
at my bewilderment. SIT was an ez
: cellent hiding place. No one but my
, self had the combination. I don't Sc
, now who could have taken them.
found the safe locked as it alway
was"
{ "When did you first discover the pa
, pers were missing?"
| ''Let me see," she ponderei
' 'Claire's engagement was announce
, at a dinner three weeks ago las
Thursday. The newspapers on Sur
: day carried brief notice of it. Tw
: days later the first note came"
!, 'What note?"
She reached into the pocket of he
. riding habit and drew forth a folde
slip of paper.
''I brought it with me to show you
here, this is the first one"
Like the mysterious note I mysel
. had received only the preceding nigh
! this one was not inclosed in an eI
t velope. It was just a folded slip, at
r dressed in typewriting to Miss Clair
t Bradford Onethe other side was thi
: message:
Y "What if Thayer knew about you
: being married before? How muc
|. will you give to get those paper
t backw
i "Where did you get this?" I asked
g ST found it on the floor of my bee
o room one morning when got up lat,
a L gave it to my sister without havin
O read it, thinking she had dropped
n there. She read it and screamed an
+ tainted. Fortunately Mother was OF
n of the house at the time. Naturally
o. read the note then. went to th
n safe and found the documents gon,
4 Claire has been nearly crazy eve
since. She insists that it is all m
q fault. She says 1 ought to have d.
/ stroyed the papers, but I couldn'
q could I?'
il "Of course not" I replied warml,
"You did quite right in keeping then