The Coolidge examiner., 1937-01-14
WEDNESDAY-Continued
ID

Patrick ana Wdtched thdt Deau-
tiful phenomenon, silent. / felt the
tears pricking behind my eyeballs.
Patrick's look grew, as knew it
always did when he was touched,
definitely more non-committal.
Il think, Pat" Walter started,
that the time has come for me to
tell you about my whole relation
with Ace Blaikie. 1t concerns Mol
ly of course"
Go on" Patrick said.
''You will remember" Walter
said and strangely enough he ad-
dressed himself to me, that act
ed as Aces secretary for two
years. You will perhaps remem-
ber, Aunt Mary, if you remember
dates. that Molly and l became en-
gagged while 1 was Aces secretary;
that six months later Molly broke
the engagement and that, six
months later, she became engaged
to Ace"
Il remember all that" I said
Il understand" Walter went on
that Satuit has rocked with ru-
mors about that broken engage
ment. Almost every theory has
heen advanced to account for it and
slmost everything that could be
said has been said. None of them
is true. Oh, do think that one or
two people conjectured that Ace
Blaikie deliberately set himself to
the work of breaking our engage
ment. That was true. But how it
was done, nobody but Molly and
have the remoteSt idea"
Walter paused and his look hard
ened. was astonished at the
change that came over him. Sud-
denly he looked, not SO much ten
years older, as ten years wiser,
more knowledgeable, would put
it. His air became hard and I'M
relenting. 1 had the feeling that if
Ace Blaikie had not been dead,
there would have been hatred in it,
bitter. biting hatred.
THE exact truth of the matter is
that Ace fell desperately in love
with Molly. 1 didn't blame him
for that" Here Walters smile
came back. Il have never blamed
any man for falling in love with
Molly. The wonder to me is that
every man in the world is not at her
feet. l am not naturally jealous
person and l wasn't and never
have been the least bit jealous of
Ace. l have known rom the mo-
ment that we became engaged that
Molly loved me and would always
love me. But after while, could
see that Ace was making a genu-
inc play for Molly. l realized that
the first thing had to do was to
resign as Aces secretary. Then
thought I'd have a talk with him
and warn him to lay off Molly. l
didn't go much further than that in
my mind. But had a dim suspi-
cion that if he didn't keep off. de-
spite the disparity in our ages, 1
was going to beat the face off him."
Was Ace conscious of the
change in your attitude?" Patrick
asked.
IN say he was. I did my
work. but we never exchanged
word which did not concern busi-
ness. Now have to 60 back and
tell you something about myself.
1t happens that I have a faculty
for initiating signatures. When l
worked for Ace, 1 signed two-thirds
OF his letters and nobody ever no.
ticed the difference. Several times
when Ace needed money, he had
asked me to make out the check
and sign his name to it Then l
would beat it down to the bank and
cash it for him. The checks all
went through Naturally l gave
Ace the money. Anyway, one Sat
urday night l gave Ace notice that
L was quitting my job. He said
he was glad that I'd come to that
conclusion because he had several
weeks before come to the same
conclusion. And then to my aston.
lshment, he said that I'd got to
leave town if l wanted to keep out
of Jail Naturally, 1 asked what
he meant by that. He said that be-
cause he respected my father and
mother so much he would lodge
no complaint against me if I left
Satult, but if | stayed, he would
have me arrested for forgery-on
the score of those checks. He said
he had whole sheet of paper on
which l had practiced writing his
name. That was most likely true.
He said that he had taken the
checks 1 had signed to a handwrit-
ing expert, all shuff1ed up with
checks which bore his genuine sig
nature and that the expert had
picked out the forgeries. | said,
But you know very well l gave
you the money He said, Yes,
but prove it,
Walter paused.
l looked from the expression
which was wiping out all the young
contours of his face, to Molly. Mol
ly's Botticellian hues had turned
steely.
ha4