ic property."

Bristow, looking at his watch, saw that it was nine o'clock and time for
him to go to the railroad station.

They said good-bye, each confident that the other was on the wrong trail.

"I'm leaving you," the lame man declared, "to run to your heart's content
around the clever circles you've outlined, and to beat off the newspaper
reporters."

"It's not for long," Braceway returned seriously. "I hope to be in
Furmville next week with an armful of new facts. I'll see you then."

He went to the desk and got his mail. In addition to reports from his
Atlanta office, there was one letter in a big, square envelope. He
recognized the writing and opened that first.

"Dear Mr. Braceway," it said: "I hope Mr. Bristow repeated to you
everything I told him. He is quite brilliant, I have no doubt, but I
talked to him in the belief and hope that he would tell you everything.
I know what you can do, and I trust you more than I do him. You see, you
have successes behind you.

"If he did not tell you all, I shall be glad to do so at any time."

It was signed, "Sincerely yours, Maria Fulton."

He read the note twice. When he put it into his pocket, there was a new
light in his eyes, and at the corners of his mouth a relaxation of the
lines of sternness.

"I wonder----" he began in his thoughts, and added: "Some other time,
perhaps. No; surely. I always knew her better than she knew herself."

He was frankly happy, felt himself uplifted, freshened in spirit.
Standing there in the crowded lobby, with people brushing past him and
jogging his elbow, he flashed back two years in memory to the evening
when he had warned her not to let the sweetness of her personality be
overshadowed by her sister. It was then that he had insisted on her
living her own life instead of giving up to the wishes of others always.

She had misconstrued it, deciding that he was disappointed in her. She
said his love for her had lessened, and therefore their engagement was a
great mistake.

Then came her promise to marry Morley, a promise made in pique.
Afterwards she had done everything possible to show the world she had
chosen a man instead of a weakling. This, Braceway knew, was why she had
advanced him money, bolstering up one mistake with another. It was why
she had listened to his stories of getting great wealth, if only he had a
small amount of money to start on!

What a fiasco the whole thing had been, what bitter disappointment an