look.

"Oh, yes, you do, Mr. Harding. It was you who gave the information that
one of the stolen bonds was in my father's overcoat pocket."

"It was true," said Harding doggedly.

"Where were the rest?" asked Bert, pointedly.

"How should I know? Your father had them secreted somewhere, I suppose."

"You know better than that. My father was innocent. He knew nothing of
the bonds. An enemy plotted to get him into trouble."

"Do you charge me with being that enemy?" demanded Harding.

"You had something to do with it, but you were the instrument of
another."

"How do you know that?" admitted Harding, incautiously.

"Shall I tell you the name of that other?"

"Yes."

"It is Albert Marlowe."

Ralph Harding started in surprise.

"Does he admit it?" he asked, after a pause.

"No; he does not know that it is suspected. I want you to back me up in
the demand that he clear my father from suspicion."

"He will never do it. How could he, without criminating himself?"

"Whatever be the result, my father's character must be cleared."

"Tell me, is your father still living?" asked Ralph Harding, earnestly.

"Yes, he is."

"Have you seen him?"

"Yes. Poor father, he has suffered much. He has been separated from my
mother and myself these many years, and has not dared to show himself at
his old home, or among his old friends, because he was liable to be
arrested on the old charge."

Ralph was looking down upon the floor, and his features were working
convulsively. Bert guessed what was passing through his mind, and paused
to give him time.

He looked up after a while, and asked: "What would you have me do?"

"Testify to what you know. It will clear my father, and he can come home
once more."

"But it will condemn Albert Marlowe."

"Why not let it? He is the guilty man. Have you so much reason to like
Albert Marlowe that you will not do this act of justice?"

"No!" Ralph Harding burst out, and his face wore an expression of
resentment. "He has used me like a dog. It was through me that he became
a rich man, and in return he has treated me with contempt and
indifference. If I dared----"

"You would expose him?"

"Yes, I would. It is of no use to deny what you have said. Your father
is an innocent man. The bonds were stolen by Albert Marlowe."

Bert looked triumphant. He had wrung the truth from the accomplice of
Squire Marlowe.

"How did you find me?" asked Harding, abruptly. "How did you know I wa