Evening star., 1929-12-14
What's that?" cried Uncle william,

whats that?" cried Uncle William,
Martin turned to Rhoda. Don't you
see how it was? Your father safe
guarded himself against the very thing
that finally happened. During the
years that he worked in Forster's lab
oratory he kept daily record OF every
thing ne did, of his experiments, OF ms
calculations, even his guesseS as tney
occurred to him. He wrote them all
down in tablets which had alternate
pages that could be torn out, ana ne
kept a carbon copy of every note ana
diagram, every pencil scratch tnat ne
made. Every night he brought home
the dated carbon copies OF tnaC gay
notes and threw them in that trunk;
"That's what he almost always tolo'
ninetv-nine times out of a hundred.
Rut once in a hundred times it hap
pened that what he brought home
weren't the carbons but the original
nenciIed notes. From this point OF view
If was important which he brought
home. He had with him in his personal
possession all the time an absolutely
complete record of all the work ne hao
done. against the chance that Forste[
might some day try to beat hlm OUT OF
his dues.
We'll, he completed his process right
I'M to the outline of the last contlrma-
tory experiments. He had it right, at
last, the day before he died.
"You can't prove that! ForSter
You're going to prove it for me-
Martin answered, within five minutes.
Then he turned back to Rhoda.
Forster had his process. and ne
didn't doubt that he was Safe IN Steal-
ing your fathers share OF 1t. He mace
his deal and his contracts, collecteo
his ROYALTIES. The probable existence
of your fathers copy Of their contracC
didn't bother him bit. He could say
what he said to us just now, and there
was, he thought, no proof to the con-
trary. But at some time or otner, noC
so very Iong ago, imagine, looking
over the log that he'd found in the
laboratory, he discovered mere ana
there a carbon sheet in place OF the
original And then he knew what your
father had done. He knew that, II
these sheets hadn't been destroyed ana
ever fell into the hands Of any friend
of YOURS who recognized what they
were. he could be forced to an az
counting and made to pay every cent
that the contract called for. When
he realized that he began to advertise
for the whereabouts Of Rhoda McFar-
land"
but once more he bleated Stubbornly,
"You can't prove It'll"
ST said you we're going to prove it,"
Martin reminded him. "You have
proved it to my satisfaction by coming
here today. But I'll tell you what
I'm going to do. If you insist that
the process you are using isn't Prof.
McFarland's process, but something
else, I'll publish these notes of his and
make the world present of them
Forster sank back in his chair with
a groan. "All right" he said. I'll
buy them of you. How much do you
want?"
Martin turned to Uncle William. II
think we'll leave the price to the legal
department" he said. But Rhoda
wants something more out of Forster
than the money her father earned"
He paused an instant. then turned
to Forster. "She doesn't want revenge
She won't prosecute you and your
nephew's wife for conspiracy unless
she's forced to. But she wants sworn
statement from you that to your per-
sonal knowledge her father was inno-
cent of the California charges ana
that they were framed against him