Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 859 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

work, and some day a bluff game with this limb of the law, Whom I always suspected to be tricky.” So saying, the chief left his quarters and @ quarter of an hour after was in the at- torney’s office. ‘* Mr. Brackette,” he said, sternly, ‘‘ there is no need of mincing matters with you so [ will tell you frankly that I have come here to make » demand upon you,” The lawyer turned pale, but answered: ‘*Ts it a demand for hush-money, sir?” ‘* No, I am not of your stripe, thank God, a robber of those whose trust is in your hands,” ‘*] don’t understand, sir, and I will not—”’ ‘Oh, yes, you will, for you have been shadowed, and | have the proof that you have been trying to sell for cash certain property left in your keeping by Maxwell, known as Miser Max, ““T know that you owe a great deal of money, gambling debts and others, and that, taking advantage of the estate left in your hands, to await the coming of its heiress, ‘you are trying to defraud her and leave the country with her fortune turned into good old coin, so I tell you that you will do as I _ demand, or you will be shown up in your true light by my exposure of you.” ‘‘ My God, chief, don’t do that, for I have done no wrong,” ‘*No, for headed you off in your scheme,” ‘What do you ask of me?” ‘*{ simply demand that you at once trans- fer this estate from your keeping into hon- est hands, lawyers who will act squarely with it and the heiress, and men whom [ ‘will name, for I will see them and—” ‘*One moment please.” * Well?” ‘‘Name the men and I will go to them myself, this very hour, and make the re- quest that they take the estate in their keep- ing, that I will turn it at once over to them ‘intact. : ; By so doing I will not be compromised, and—” ‘*Youdo not deserve any mercy, Brack- ette, but if you do as you*say, and at once, and the estate is intact, I will allow you to go to these gentlemen. Here are their names; but remember, until the transfer is consummated I will shadow you like a hound,” ‘* You may trust me, chief, indeed you may,” cried the thoroughly frightened lawyer. ‘‘T shall expect a visit from you to- morrow, telling me you have made the transfer,” and the chief departed pleased with his call. CHAPTER XXYI, A FATHER’S CONFESSION, It was not for some days after his mid- night visit with the magistrate and his Boy Police, to the home of Roger Thurston, that Graveyard Jack had the courage to look over the papers given him by the man who had been his adopted father. He had also in his possession another paper, one which he had not given to Olive and which he had not even read himself. He had found it in the secret closet with the treasure of Miser Max and upon the en- velope was written: ‘* My confession of crimeand my endeavor to atone.” Driven to his dismal abode one night, by a severe storm, Jack closed the door, lighted his candle and sat down to muse, as was his wont. ‘Well, our Boy Police are doing good we, who are regarded as young crooks, will be able to show our deeds, claim our rewards and demand re- cognition as the real detectives and shadow- ers we have shown ourselves to be, Sh sss — ee | a is too noble a girl to be allied with such as we are, and if the chief makes that haul all right of the Masked Angels, I wrote him about, at one swoop we will get hold of the New York Nat, the Gamin Detective. ae = a ee — = -_—-_=-—— i atone for it. 15 ——— — ‘But I wish to get Olive out of it, for she than ever, and my life became more and more a curse. ‘At last I repented of my sin, my double sin against Nathan Chandler, and sought to | went to his house and claimed murderers.of old Miser Max and she will | his daughter the day after his burial, his lit- thus be avenged, for though they may not all hang the guilty one certainly will. tle Olive. ‘| claimed to be her grandfather, said > ‘ . . ! 4 . ‘*T feel like a different being now, since I! that | was rich and would do all in my got that confession from Thurston and his wife, that I was not the murderer of their son, ‘That brings up to my mind that [ have not yet read my father’s confession. I must —yes Iwill do so now.” He took out of a hiding-place in the vault the envelope given him by Thurston, and also the paper takenfrom the chimney closet in the old mansion of Miser Max, Opening the paper he read: ‘Having received my mortal wound, and with the fear of death before my eyes, I here wish to tell the story of my unhappy life.”’ Here followed the story of his love for Mabel Maxwell, her father’s refusal’ to allow her to wed him, their secret marriage, and the killing of his young wife in the grounds by mistaking her for him, as she was dressed in male attire. His unhappy wanderings after her death were told, and how, several years after, he had been nursed through an attack of illness by a beautiful girl whom he had learned to love for her devotion to him and had made her his wife. But her parents had discarded her for marrying a poor man anda sailor, and ad- versity had followed, until while he was away upon along voyage his wife had died, his children became separated, his daughter hav- ing been kidnapped, while the boy was after- ward found and cared for by his old mate, Roger Thurston. One night, through a fire, he had discovered his lost daugkter and was happy in taking her to his home until he went to sea again, when Thurston was to also take care of her, but the hatred of Paul Maxwell for him had never died away, and finally he had dogged the sailor to his death, for, landing one night upon the shore, near his home, he had de- manded that he should meet him ina duel, stating that he had been the cause of all his unhappiness and hence he sought revenge upon him, or death at hisson-in-law’s hands, Nathan Chandler, thus forced into the duel, had fired into the air, while the bullet of the other had ended his life. Such was the confession that Jack read of his father's life, only the name of Paul Max- well was not given, and it did not seem that Thurston knew it. For a long time did Jack sit and ponder over what he had read until at last he said: ‘If the confession of Olive’s grandfather is as cruel a one, she must not see it. I will read it too,” It was opened and found to be dated at the old mansion a short while before his death. ‘Duty compels me,” read Jack, ‘‘ to write here the secret of my life. . ‘‘There are many yet living who will re- member how my loved daughter was killed by my own band one night in my grounds, I believing her to be, as she was dressed in male attire, her lover, who her dying words told me was in reality her husband. ‘‘With such a curse upon my life 1 was broken-hearted, and in time became revenge- ful against the man who had made me-the slayer of my child. ‘So at last Lsought him out, one. fateful night, determined that he should die: by my hand, or I fall by his. ‘He met me in a duel with pistols, at my demand; he fired his shot into the air but J killed him.” ‘Then I was avenged, but more wretched | | a a a TL LL power to make her happy, and so I took her and claimed her as my own, ‘* But, duty compels me to make this con- fession, though I pray Heaven it may never reach her eyes. ‘“When | am called away ell that I have shall go to her, and that all is a great for- tune for Lam a very rich man, as my attorney, Adam Brackette, can vouch, ‘‘ Such have been my crimes ard my atone- ment, if atonement it is, ‘*PauL MAXWELL.” To the end without » word of comment, did Graveyard Jack read this confession of Miser Max, and when he had finished it his face had a strange expression upon it. He looked years older, and, seizing his hat, he walked out into the night, unmindful of the storm that was raging. CHAPTER XXVIL UNITED, ‘‘Onrve, I have come to have a talk with ou,” So said the boy chief of the Police League the morning after having read the confessions of his father, and that of Miser Max. ‘“Why, Jack, has anything gone wrong? You look haggard and ill.” ‘‘T am all sight now, but I have hada hard night of it, and, also, I have something to tell you.” ‘Yes, Jack.” ‘* Where is Mrs. Herbert?” ‘Gone out to market,” ‘* And the children?” ‘* She took them with her.” ‘‘Then we are alone?” +6 Yes.” ‘Olive, I told you that I would be a brother to you.” ‘‘And you have. been, Jack, indeed you have.” ‘“T am glad to hear you say so, Olive, for I am in truth your real and true brother,” ‘* Yes, we made that compact,” “This is no compact, but a reality—a wonderful reality,” ‘* Why, Jack!” ‘* You believe yourself the granddaughter of Miser Max?” ‘‘AmTI not? Did he not say I was?” ‘‘No, you are not, thoug eo father was secretly married to his daughter,”’ “Mr. Maxwell killed his own daughter, mistaking her in the darkness for your father, as she was dressed in man’s clothes, and that was one of the curses upon that old man’s life,” ‘ ‘‘ A terrible one, indeed!” ‘Yes, but there was another.” : ‘‘ Another curse, Jack? What can you mean ?” ‘Yes; your father married, several years after the tragedy, a lovely woman, and there were two children born, a son and a daugh- ter, ‘Their mother died, and—well, you were the daughter, and your career, as you have told me, was your lot; but the y was adopted by aman named Thurston.” ‘‘ Mr. Maxwell's hatred for your father continued, and in revenge npon him, as hay- ing been the cause of his taking his daugh- and killed him, ters life, he challenged him to a secret duel, © * ‘ ; + d 2, 4 ‘ = 4 NDOOKS cor | ‘ , ol / at ‘ ~~ * . : i