The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-01-06
A NOVEL
ATU
By ULMAR.

SNNs Jaw 80" NS%"J
way In which he flung about his money,
but l begrudged him the favor ana
good will he had Vol from the one
family In the world in which l was
interested-Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bran
don and their daughter, Adela.
Dysart had flashed in among our
little brokerage group, made up of
young fellows who had ventured into
independent business with little capital
but high hopes. He had appeared with
no n knowing anything of his ante
cedents, claimed to have been with a
leading eastern bond house and boosted
Of wealthy, and even titled relatives
in London. He rented an elaborate Of
nee, made money from the start and
attracted many friends. It was I who,
captivated by his friendly ways, intro
duced him to the Brandons, too late
regretting It, for, unconsciously per-
haps, he won away from me my lady
love.
Not that l had any claim on Adela
and not that she seemed particularly
taken with him, but his glare and
glitter caught the old folks and their
n.apner plainly showed that they "a
vored his pretensions. I bore Dysart
no grudge because he had supplanted
me, for I doubted If he or anybody else
guessed the secret Of my preference
for Adela. However, as I became bet
ter acquainted with him I analysed his
nature more s%tudiously. and I noted
half hidden defects and learned that
some of his claimed former connections
would not bear close scrutiny.
I 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 be restricted and ~'infrequent, 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-
Ineligible lingo. However, he ran
the tape on the ticker through his f1n-
gers In a way that showed he was not
unfamiliar with it and propounded the
query:
Market eighty-seven on Union Con.
solidatedy"
EYES," I assented, with accrued
dividends"
Buy me n hundred shares" he
ordered, and placed a 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
Tor the shares and added:
Fill out the amount, will your"
"Why, do you not writer" 1 inquired
curiously.
"Oh. I can sign all right" he re-
piled casually. and took back the check
l had done his bidding.
Then this unique client went through
an unusual and interesting program.
He picked up the pen I had used and
laboriously and clumsily spelled out
in print letters the name "Zeno
Blecha." That done. he produced a
small metal box and opened it's cover
revealing an ink pad saturated with
q dark red liquid. Into this he pressed
the thumb of his rather ungainly right
hand AS he did so, I 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 q
whimsical smile. anybody could print
out the signature of a man who does
not understand script, but my thumb
mark Is an unquestionable identified
ton. l will call for the stock tomor-
row." and he strolled to the inner Office
to look over a financial journal. A
moment later Rolfe Dysart appeared,
a memorandum slip in his hand.
"Any Commonwealth Preferred?" he
asked. and then gave a great start. l
saw him pale, shlver, and his eyes
bulged is they rested upon the thumb
print on the blotter.
where did you get that !" he gasped.
The man in the other room uttered q
cultural cry and dashed into the outer
Office.
"YOu scoundrel !" he shouted in wild
rage, but Dysart had turned and
sprung through the doorway, his pur-
suer more clumsily. following him.
I had not recovered from my amaze.
ment when, pale and breatlless, zeno
Blecha returned. He asked the use
Of my telephone. I listened while he
called up the police, gave a descrip-
ton of Dysart. who had swindled him
out Of a large sum in New York, and
offered a reward for his apprehension.
I heard nothing Of either my strange
client or Dysart for over q month. The
latter had ~mysteri0usly disappeared
from the city, and l doubted not that
Blecha was on his trail.
nno dow 7 mot Adolo an Tho sfroof