The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1920-04-30

the marriage annulled. Dad kept moth
err abroad until after 1t was all over,
and to this day she never has heard
a word about it,"
"Your father must be wonderful
man." l said enthusiastically.
He was" she said simply. "He has
been dead two years."
"Oh, I'm so sorry" I cried. Z" l 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. l wanted to do
something. to go out and earn living
for myself, but she never would con-
Claire's prospects II went into trade
as she calls it, and I promised her I'd
do nothing until after Claire is safely
married"
"And is she to be married?" I asked.
A troubled expression came into her
face.
"She was to be, but now l don't
know. She is engaged to marry young
Harry D. Thayer, who Is worth 4 lot
Of money, but someone has found out
about her secret"
"How did they find outw I asked
eagerly. l understood now the mystic
rious meeting In the park that had
brought me first into touch with Bar
bara Bradford. Some band Of rascals
was trying to blackmail Claire Brad
her.
That's the greatest mystery Of all"
exclaimed Miss Bradford Before
Dad died he turned over to me all the
papers about the annulment Of Claire's
marriage Somehow he seemed to
rely on me far more than on either
Mother or Claire. He explained to
me the Importance of always keeping
them, In case the past should ever
crop up, but he charged me to see that
where no one could find them"
"Where did you keep them?" l
asked.
'In the wall safe In my sitting
room"
TN the wall safer I cried, think
ing In bewilderment of the coinci'
dence that these papers should have
had similar hiding place to the Gas
ton jewels which had vanished sc
strangely.
at my bewilderment. 1T was an ex
cellent hiding place. No one but my
| self had the combination. l don't see
now who could have taken them.
found the safe locked as it always
was"
"When did you first discover the pa
pers were missing?"
LET me see," she pondered
"Claire's engagement was announced
at a dinner three weeks ago las
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 foldet
slip Of paper.
II brought it with me to show you
here, this Is the first one"
Like the mysterious note I mysel
had received only the preceding night
this one was not inclosed in an en-
velope. 1t was just folded slip, ad
dressed in typewriting to Miss Clair
Bradford" On the other side was thi
message:
"What II Thayer knew about you
being married before? How muc
will you give to get those paper
back?"
where did you get this?" l asked
i II found it on the floor Of my bee
room one morning when | got up late
/ gave it to my sister without havin
read it, thinking she had dropped
there. She read it and screamed an
tainted. Fortunately Mother was OF
of the house at the time. Naturally
read the note then. l went to tn
safe and found the documents gon,
Claire has been nearly crazy eve
since. She insists that It Is all n,
fault. She says ! ought to have d,
stroyed the papers, but couldn'
could II"
"Of course not" I replied warml,
"You did quite right In keeping then
1t was not your fault they wei
stolen"
II couldn't destroy them. Dad ha
told me to keep them" she said simpl
what did you. do thenP Did We
tell your mother?"