The Argosy, Vol. 83 No. 1 — page 96: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

86 I was taken there for trial, the people that I had swindled refused to appear against me, and the story of restitution came out and made something of a hero of me. “My name, however, was still Irving Exmoor, and I couldn’t prove it other- wise without making a nation-wide scan- dal and dragging my daughter into the public eye. She was happy, it seemed, and Exmoor convinced me, in his letters, that she should remain in ignorance of the true state of affairs. “Kingsale became dissatisfied about that time, and prepared to blackmail Exmoor on his own account, but Exmoor had cov- ered himself and his future with such a clever fabric of scheming that he could not be touched; he was a genius in crime. Kingsale had one hope: Exmoor had shown him a packet of papers and corre- spondence that he cherished as a weapon to hold over me in an emergency. They were letters in which I confessed my crimes and arranged with him for the ex- change of our identities, and there were certain bits of evidence which [I still feared. Kingsale told me that if he could get that packet, he would turn it against Exmoor and bleed him dry. “Kingsale started for New York from Kansas City, and I followed him, deter- mined to protect my daughter from pos- sible disgrace and unhappiness. I have been here six months, watching the In- wood place most of the time, and watch- ing for Kingsale. I rented a house-boat because I didn’t want to live among peo- ple, and I kept it near the Inwood place. When I found that Kingsale was really on the trail, I decided to get the packet my- self and to use it as I might see fit. “T got it, and you know the rest of the story. It would have been simpler and wiser for Exmoor to destroy the papers himself, and I wonder that he didn’t; but you'll always find that a crook has some favorite fancy like that, some mysterious relic of his crimes which he cherishes. “After I met you and heard something of the state of affairs between Eugenia and her supposed father, I began to change THE ARGOSY. my plans. Then, when the climax came, I realized that Exmoor was in a tight place. I thought he would flee and take Eugenia away with him, so I took no chances: I kidnaped her myself, and when I told her my story it confirmed some of her vague suspicions, and she believed it. I am now beginning life over again.” Hampton looked at the regenerated Mil- ton Delroy in awed silence for a while, visibly affected and impressed. “You may wonder,” the man broke out again, ‘“‘why I asked you to examine the packet. In some of the correspondence you would have found references to your father, and you would have discovered that he was outrageously swindled out of his property which you now oecupy. By rights, Hampton, you are the owner of it, and there are other parcels of property which should be restored to you.” Jerry smiled dryly. “I destroyed my claim to fortune by my own free will,” he said, “‘and I’ll abide by it.” CHAPTER XXVII. TO DO AND DARE, ON Jerry’s return home that night he found Grandmother Hampton in a state of serious anxiety over his protracted absence. He had only commonplace ex- cuses to offer, and the old lady was hurt and worried, so he devoted himself to her. He heard nothing of the man he had known as Delroy, or of the other actors in the recent drama, until Eugenia called up- on his grandmother one afternoon. For an hour she chatted with the old lady, say- ing nothing of her extraordinary change of fortunes, while Jerry sat silent and ill at ease in the room with them. Then she asked him to show her the garden. “T saw at once,” she said, “‘that you had told your grandmother nothing of what happened the other day, and I—well, I’m scarcely able to talk about it yet. My father is anxious about you, Mr. Hamp- ton; he is fond of you, and he wonders CORMICLOOOKS (C@