Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-02-13

notning out q KID. He'd have kent
II from her II he'd been telling
everybody else In sight And IL
you want to know who I think you
really are. ! don't mind telling you
that either. I believe you're the
u person alive today who really
knows whether Walter Mcfarland
was telling the truth or not"
Until he'd finished she hadn't
see what he was driving AZ. And
when she did she could do nothing
but stare at him. COMPOUNDED by
the mere consciousness OF his mis-
take. To complete her discontinue
she found she was beginning "a
cry.
You can cry. can your Well.
II worked with him but IL won't
with me. 80 you may a. well !"
he broke on there and what
had interrupted him both made
her blink away her tears and
checked their coming. A sort OF
little trap-door In the front Of Ma,
poleon had silently fallen forward
and revealed. as he reached toward
1t. a telephone instrument inside.
Forster seemed rather startled
by the message he was getting.
whats THAR" he harked. who
does he say he Isl All right" after
listening for a minute. "I1l see him.
but not 10 here. Have him shown
up TO the library. I'll see him
there. And find DeGraw and tell
him I want him"
he put the telephone back and
clicked the little trap-door shut
upon IL. Then he pressed an cleo
trio button on his desk.
I'm going to leave you here for
"A WHILE" he said TO Rhoda. Ito
think things over. and you'd bet
ter think straight. II you can I'm
going TO get this Cleveland woman.
I've got her now. as far as that
goes. But I've got nothing per
sonal against you. And II you can
make up your mind. by the time ]
come back. to come through clean
and tell me the whole conspiracy.
I'LL let you 60"
His ring had been answered
while he was speaking. not by
Conley. but by a sort OF overgrown
page In livery. he helped the old
man 70 his feet and conducted
him to the door Rboda had come
In BY.
Rhoda sank back IN her chair.
What possessed her mind was the
story Forster had been telling her
abouI the girl he'd prepoSterously
taken her 20 be. Did he really BE-
lieve that7 Was there a scrap or
genuine doubt In his mind that she
WIS Walter McFarland's daughter?
Wasn't che whole thing q bluff to
put her on the defensive and fright
en- her into doing. eventually.
whatever IL was that he wanted
her 10 dor II would have been q
rather satisfactory explanation II
she could whole-heartedly have
adopted II. if for no other reason
than that IL brought him out In a
clearer. less ambiguous light.
But she found she couldn't adopt
II. he wasn't a much better actor
than she was. His manner while
he had been trying to convince
her that he had been led by moth
ing but dislnterested benevolence
IN trying TO find her had been sleek
and sly. utterly unconvincing. But
some or the things he'd told her
she knew 20 be true Her father
had been paid every week regular
~, through the whole four years
they'd lived at the hotel, In cash.
Forster wouldn't have known that
unless he'd paid him himself, or II
wasn't likely that he would. What
he'd said about her fathers feel
ing disgraced and having lived
practically I'm hiding was confirmed.
too, BY innumerable memories or
his having cautioned her not to
talk to people, nor answer their
questions. nor make friends with
them.
Claire Cleveland. somehow, had
fOund the secret u Sne'o spoken
with perfect confidence Of the lab
oratory where her father had
worked Had she really worked
for him there-eventngs. as she
said she had? III was possible, but
II didn't seem very likely. AT any
rate. 1t was fatty unbelievable that
he would have conhded 10 her al
those times. rs she said he had.
the story OF his California disaster.
And yet It was clear that she knew
about that. Shed spoken OF the
trial and sensation that It created.
There'd been hardly anything else
In the San Francisco papers.
(To BE coNTIHUED.l