terests, Edith?"

"O Joe, dear Joe, do not blame us!" Carrie made haste to reply. "We
thought you were here. A man _was_ here, that man behind you, simulating
you in every regard, and to him we gave the domino, and from him we have
learned----"

"What?" sprang in thundering tones from the young giant's throat as he
wheeled on his heel and confronted me.

"That your brother Hartley is a villain," I declared, looking him
steadily in the eye.

"God!" was his only exclamation as he turned slowly back and glanced
toward his trembling brother.

"Sir," said I, taking a step toward Uncle Joe, who, between his
eagerness to embrace the new-comer and his dread of the consequences of
this unexpected meeting, stood oscillating from one side to the other in
a manner ridiculous enough to see, "what do you think of the propriety
of uttering aloud and here, the suspicions which you were good enough to
whisper into my ears an hour ago? Do you see any reason for altering
your opinion as to which of the two sons of Mr. Benson invaded his desk
and appropriated the bonds afterward found in their common apartment,
when you survey the downfallen crest of the one and compare it with the
unfaltering look of the other?"

"No," he returned, roused into sudden energy by the start given by
Hartley. And advancing between the brothers, he looked first at one and
then at the other with a long, solemn gaze that called out the color on
Hartley's pale cheek and made the crest of Joe rise still higher in
manly pride and assertion. "Joe," said he, "for three years now your
life has lain under a shadow. Accused by your father of a dreadful
crime, you have resolutely refused to exonerate yourself,
notwithstanding the fact that a dear young girl waited patiently for the
establishment of your innocence in order to marry you. To your family
this silence meant guilt, but to me and mine it has told only a tale of
self-renunciation and devotion. Joe, was I right in this? was Edith
right? The father you so loved, and feared to grieve, is dead. Speak,
then: Did you or did you not take the bonds that were found in the
cupboard at the head of your bed three years ago to-night? The future
welfare, not only of this faithful child but of the helpless sister,
who, despite her belief in your guilt, has clung to you with unwavering
devotion, depends upon your reply."

"Let my brother speak," was the young man's answer, given in a steady
and nobly restrained tone.