Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-17
The Vengeance of
Henry Jarr0mQn
Must
the
Wonan
AlsUays
Pay?
By ROY VICKERS

ooWn the law about things, but IL
pseems to me that II You have YOUR
own standard Of right and wrong and
Keep to It, that q enough. re no
ones place to criticise you"
lou VIII not condemn me, then.
wnsn ,',i,s ~. l tel you that I did what you
T',, wan not r,.ht 20. >, ,shs cheated held that
was rishs. She leaned toward. ssl,, ia,nf s.t
eyes glittering, terribly eager.
1nered Nadia. III you are still con.
yyineed you were right. why think Of Il ti
Why speak Of 1t to me? i"
1T was you I cheated, Nadia"
II Stole From You"
I'm afraid I don't follow you In the
Yea, least, .h0!,s Nadia a., said gently. You say
ern1,in% s11% yop; Give me a little time. I will
Nadia backed away from her. st,,l
staring. As II in the dawn Of under.
standing. her wide eyes went from the
elder woman's face to John Camden's
ring and back again. Lady Gloucester
'..You begin to guess already. I have
told you John Camden was a kinsman
OF mine: He was a cousin. the only
child OF my fathers brother. This
brother was older than my father by
some years. and he was his fathers
favorite son.
When the old father died-my
grandfather--my own father was dead,
l had been married to Mollentravs for
den's father, was abroad. The dav
after grandfather's death, my uncle met
with an accident, a fatal accident. Ali
the money which his father had left
MIN, considerable fortune, came TO
John Camden.
John Camden's whereabouts were
extremely uncertain. He had quarreled
with his father, and cut himself off
completely from his people. It took
the lawyers a long time to find him,
As a matter of fact, they found him o
day too late. He had committed sui.
A sobbing sigh came from Nadia. Her
He died alone, rather horribly, in
a house in some back street or other;
it doesn't matter where it was, No
one in the house knew anything about
MIN he had only been there a night
or two. No one knew what he had
been doing, how he had lived, whether
ne had wife. No one had heard from
him for years-except myself"
You? He wrote to you?"
lie wrote to me two or three DAYS
before he died. He said merely that
he was depressed and friendless, that
he cared little for himself, but that he
had q child-his wife had died in Civ.
Ing 1t birth-and that he was often
anxious about the child's future should
anything happen to him. He asked me
to be the child's guardian, to look after
Its interests IL the necessity arose."
II was the child! And you said
nothins-did nothins-just took the
took the money. I cheated you.
How you came to be confused with
Jarroman's child, I don't know. I
simply denied all knowledge Of my
cousins affairs. and the Camden prop.
erty came to me-"
She rose to her feet, and flung out
her arms in sudden abandonment.
Don't think I'm ashamed Of 1t. I
would have done anything for my hus-
band-.-slaved for him, lied for him,
gone hungry for him. Cheating was
easy. Once I had determined to do
It, / never looked back. Success came
almost Immediately. The money helped
US to know the chance, and we proved
that we had deserved the chance.
tell you, I'm not ashamed Of what
did. I'm not asking for your forgive.
| ness
What do you want of me, then?"
Nadia was white as death. She looked
as II life we're ebbing from her. She
looked as il she knew already what she
was asked to do.
II want the same thing, the one
thing-silcnce. want you to keep up
your role of Mr.. Jarroman's daughter.
It will be easy; he himself wishes It,
he is fond Of you, and Wilfred can
not possibly stumble upon the truth"
II cannot see how my refusal to do
that affects you," persisted Nadia. sob.
bling q little. You surely don't think
that. because I insist on repaying Mr..
Jarroman everything. I shall try to
recover my own property from you
first? The past Is past-,absolutely.
Wilfred and l will manage as best We
can with the present."
Lady Gloucester brushed aside her re.
assurances Historically.
II don't fear exposure from you,
Nadia: l fear 1t from Mr.. Jarroman.
Ah, that surprises you'll The coinci-
dences fate has woven round you are
even stranger than you think. Mr..
Jarroman knew that John Camden had
child. He knew that I had inner.
tied property to which that child had
claim. No, am imagining nothing :;
he to d me that he knew; he let me
see that he despised me because of
what l had done. And I know that
IT you were TO insist on giving him back
all that he spent on you, he would vent
his annoyance and disappointment on
me. He would expose me and start an
action against me for the return OF the
Camden property"
II cannot believe he would do such
thing" whispered Nadia. IL would
beg him for my sake---''
"Do you think he would listen to
you, when you Will not regard his
wishes! He is a man with a grievance
against society, Nadia. To him there
would be grim humor In forcing a for.
tune upon you from another quarter"
Nadia turned blindly away. Some
thing In her told her that JarrOman,
lonely, bitter, as he had been when first
she met him, and as he would be now
again--Jarroman might we'll take this
fantastic way of providing for her fu.
ture.
sne pressed the palms of her hands
over her eyes. She tried to temporize
II cannot promise silence until
have seen Mr.. Jarroman. cannot
promise anything. l am sure IL ]
could only speak to him myself and
explain to him why ! cannot keep his
gifts, and get his promise to leave this
old matter of my fathers inheritance
alone. l could come to an understand
ing with him and with Wilfred----"
Lady Gloucester saw her opportunity
| and cMpnpaI nnOn