Maruja

ke dry bones over Dr. West's grave. The desiccating wind and sun had wrought some disenchanting cracks and fissures in Aladdin's Palace, and otherwise disjo

rd-room and Mr. Prince's bed-room and office remained intact, and in the latter, one stormy afternoon, Mr. Prince himself sat busy over his books and papers. His station-wagon, splashed and streaked wi

servant ushered Captain Carroll into the presence of his master. The Captain did not remove his milit

station," said Prince, "if you had come

o ride," said

id Prince, motioning to a

e asked me to come here in reference to certain letters I returned to their rightful owner some months ago. If yo

not. It is not my fault if the subject has been dropped. You must remember that until ye

military boots crossed before the fire. Sitting there in profile Prince could not but notice that he looked older

ement of the Doctor's will, making the same lady the absolute and sole inheritor of the same property. That seemed all right too; for there were, apparently, no legal heirs. Since then, however, it has been discovered that there is a legal heir-none other than the Doctor's only son. Now, as no allusion to the son's existence was made in that will-which was a great oversight of the Doctor's-it is a

rs. Saltonstall's lawyers-not for

will, was made over, in the event of his death, not to his legal heirs, but to a comparative stranger. It looked queer to a good many people,

rned, impatiently, "If you mean that their private relations may be made the subject of legal discussion, in the event of litigation

er of discretion,

repeated Carrol

at would you call it, if it could be found that Dr. West, on leaving Mrs. Saltonstall's that night, di

he road, and its inconsistency with the accepted theory of the accident, unmis

der and not an accident, what has that to do wit

one person directly b

to his feet. "Do I understand that you have called m

West was unduly influenced to make a will in Mrs. Saltonstall's favor; that, after having done so, it will be shown that, just before his death, he became aware of the existence of his son and heir, and actually had an interview with him; that he visited Mrs. Saltonstall that evening, with the records of his son's identity and a memorandum of his interview in his pocket-book; and that, an hou

pocketbook, handed you in confidence, to be us

less said about that, the less is likely to be said about compromising letters written by the widow to the Doctor, w

th him, and the vague hints she had thrown out of the impossibility of their union. "I beg you will not press me to greater candor," she had written, "and try to forget me before you learn to hate me." For an instant he believed-and even took a miserable comfort in the bel

ty rough on you, it's only because you played it rather rough on ME the last time you were here. Let's understand each other. I'll go so far as to say I don't believe that Mrs. Saltonstall had anything to do with that murder, but, as a business man, I'm bound to say that these circumstan

at this is done, and I have confidence enough in Mrs. Saltonstall's honest friend

Mrs. Saltonstall's confidential servant-the mayordomo, Pereo." He waited for a moment for the effect of this announcement on Carroll, and then went on: "You now understand t

are actual proofs, why have they not been acted upon

one man, and will only pass out of his possession when it is for the be

is this

sel

, advancing towards him.

ess, with a view to profiting by it. It so happens that we can both work to the same end, even if our motives are not the same. I don't call myself an officer and a gentleman, but I reckon I've run this affair about as delicately as the best of them, and with a d--d sight more horse sense. I want this thing hushed up and compromised, to get some control of the property again, and to prevent it depreciating, as it would, in litigation;

quietly. "I am willing to admit that you have managed this thing better than I could, and, if I join you in an a

all, and to ask her to acknowledge the yo

would not do this without-ex

gh to get hold of a million, would be c

are mistaken. But

er

er

h? Well, that's just where we differ. By this means I have kept everything in my own hands-prevented him from getting into the hands of outsiders-an

suspect t

ch love lost between him and the old man, it wouldn't pay to have any revenge mixed up with business. He knows nothing of

ltonstalls? Are you sure he has not?" said Carroll, with a s

hink his being a tramp has made him lose his taste for everything! Don't worry yourself about HIM. He isn't likely to make confidences with the Saltonstalls, for he don't like 'em, and never went there but once. Instinctively or

rly pretender to resent Prince's tactless allusion. He was thinking of Maruja's ominous agit

by an act of legislation when he first came here. Nobody remembers it. We only found it out

I presume you are able to offer conclusiv

fect

morrow I will bring you the answer-Peace or War." He walked to the door, li