The Monmouth inquirer., 1922-06-29


side of the door, with his finger on his
lips.
"Do they come, Mike?" he asked
"No, sor. But there is a gentleman
and. a lady in there, sor. / said you
was expected back soon, and they said
they would wait"
"Wem have more light" he OBJ
served quickly, and stepped over TO
The switch which controlled the side
lights.
The Illumination brought his two
callers into sharp relief. They were
the Ballantynes.
"Mr. Rutherford. wish to apollo
gize, first of all, for this informal
visit" said Ballantyne, with the quiet
self-possession of man OF the
world.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Bal,
lantyne?" he asked, purposely using
the mans right name.
1t appeared to pass unnoted by the
man addressed.
"Mr. Rutherford" he began hest
tatingly, sit may seem strange tt you
comparative stranger
'T call smuggling about the crooked
est business in which man can en-
eagei" asserted Rutherford. "And l
want to say, once for all, that / am
tired of being used in any such way!
"Why, you don't think we were
sMAggling that old steel buckle, dc
you?" cried Miss Ballantyne.
"Your father knows what I'm talk
/, ing about" answered Craig, continu-
ing to glare 81 mean the diamond
necklace"
Diamond necklace?" repeated Bal
lamAyns. with every appearance Of sur
pxssa. 81 know nothing Of diamond
necklace"
FOR all these years-as long as
have lived" interposed the daughter.
my father has not been able to de-
fend himself But now that the man
who wronged him is dead, we hope
that he can again take his rightful
place in the world"
"Who was this other man," prompt
ed Craig. as the girl hesitated
'It was his own brother. They had
been in business toeether-and my
father had--dore something to dis
please my uncle. In revenge, mr.
uncle--the man who is dead-raN''ed
him of his money and-worse still
his reputation He made it appear
that my father had absconded."
what had your father done to anger
his brother?" againg prompted Craig,
not unkindly, but determined to get at
I the facts
"He had won the gove of a woman
his brother also loved" sch replied In
a low voice. While they were travel
ing abroad, my uncle Gregory falsified
the accounts in their business and
wove such chain of circumstantial
evidence that my father could not re-
turn for fear of arrest He had to as
sumo another name-that of Talcott
Oh. he didn't intend to live that way
always"-she hurried on, noting
Craigs look of incredulity-"h has
been working and hoping some day to
clear his name. But he could not.
while his brother lived"
"You mean that Gregory Ballantyne
swindled your father out of every.
thing?"
"Everything-bu the blue buckle"
what can you mean?" he exclaim-
ed. "The buckle has no value"
at is worth million dollars, we
believe" she answered quietly. Bet
ter still. it is worth my fathers good
name-if we can find its mate"
"There were two buckles them"
asked Craig. too incredulous to trust
himself with further comment.
''Mr Rutherford, sentiment is re-
sponsiblea for good many things in
this world Yes, there are two. The
pair of old steel buckles has been an
heirloom in our family; they origi-
nally acquired sort of fictitious value
because of sentiment. They were on
the slippers of the first American Bal
lantyne grandma, when Capt. Ballan-
tyne Of the Virginia colony met and
courted her They have been passed
down from generation to generation,
until my own grandmother wore them
as her most cherished possession. They
would have been worn by my mother
had she lived"
Miss Ballantyne paused a moment,
and her father gently stroked her
hand.
when my father and his brother
Guarrelled my grandfather was still
living, but my fathers disgrace short
ened his days. My grandfotheF was
a very rich man, who had horror
Of family quarrels, and he could not
bear that any one should injure the
family name. Why, years ago our
family were close friends and neigh
bors with Washington's! She drew
herself up proudly. "And so my grand
father left his fortune in trust-my
father being unable to obtain his por-
tion until he had cleared his name.
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