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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1928-12-13, Page 7THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE TJWURSPAY, DECEMBER 13, 1928 &he jatQQed Jtrm by Isabel Ostrander Marks, take Gray into the draw­ ing room,” .Miles ordered, “Farrell, joll up the right sleeve of the man 5Vho calls himself Andrew Drake and take off the bandage.’’ A gasping cry came from Jerusha but Miss Hawks moaned: “That was ^what deceived me so thoroughly when he was putting on his coat out in the garden the first day 1 called!’’ The psuedo Andrew’ set his teeth hut he made no show of resistance when the bandage was removed and on the still inflamed surface of his arm appeared the blurred, inter­ twined letters. “H” and “O.” “You thought they were your own initials, did you not, Miss Hawks?” Mips asked gently. “Forgive me for re-opening an old wound, but that touch of sentiment for a time .blinded- you to certain inconsisten­ cies which the Drake family them­ selves failed to note?” She nodded dumbly in an obvious effort to control hei’ emotion and 4he detective went on: “In reality the initials are his own, as far as the police records of Australia show. His name is Hugh Osborne and, he, too, is badly want- ibut not for the same crime as liis sent accomplice. Will you tell Weljs and your old friends here when the first doubt of his indentity entered your mind?’’ “I called here yesterday, but as I grew reminiscent and he betrayed an utter ignorance of the incidents I mentioned a wild suspicion came in­ to my mind. 1 spoke of my initials ■on his arm and though he swore that he had them tatooed there in remembrance of me I w’as still un­ convinced. I felt that I must be going mad and yet I had to make sure. I laid a deliberate trap for him and he fell into it!” Miss Hawks rose. “Now’ may I go? 1 came as I promised, but I— T can endure no more. Jerusha, forghe me, but surely it is better fhat you know the trut-h!” “The truth is always the best, •Ora.’’ Miss Drake rose and a stern, Spart m gravity had robbed her set features of all other emotion. “To­ night shall see the end of more than one living lie!” John, Wells escorted the trembling woman to her waiting car and scarcely had the attorney reappear­ ed when the imposter broke out with an oatih. “You’re right it yvhh Miss Jer­ usha Drake! Lord, what a six months I’ve put in, in this pious, hypocritical household!—-Why, you- re all worse, crooks than me, every one of you, and I’ve got the goods •tm! We could have fixed- this little matter up friendly all ’round if you’d been sensible, but, as it is, I’ve my own story to tell, and by—, I’ll tell it!” Miles did not look at Scottie, but sealed himself with a laugh. “Ging to try to stick that far­ fetched blackmailing, scheme you and that previous partner of yours hatched when you found that An­ drew Drake -had left relatives here with money and social position to lose!” he asked easily. “Faiirell, you can join Marks and his man till I call you. Mr. Wells, listen to this for the wildest cock-and-bull story ’that two cheap crooks ever conceiv­ ed!, IMr. Hugh Osborne, here,/ is •Wanted in Victoria for blackmail and forgery now. He won’t ■ e extradit­ ed until he has been tried and serv­ ed- his terms here for fraud, at­ tempted blackmail, attempted ab­ duction of Miss Patricia and several .other little items growing out of this case if Mr. Hobart Drake wisnes to prefer the charges. How . the private papers and letters of the real Andrew’ Drake came into the possession of Hugh Osborne is . a question which the next official -cable w-i’1 answer.” “Oh, you need’t wait for that!” Osborne remarked sullenly. “Andy -and I were friends. He ^yas taken Bronchial- ■ Left Her with a iry, tekwg tagh Mrs. A. Primeau, 36 Ingrain St., ■‘Ohatkani, Ont., writes:—"I am pleased take this opportunity of telling you of my experience with Dr. Wood’s Norway PSne Syrup "Early last winter I suffered from severe bronchial cold that left me •with a provoking, dry, hacking cough, After being bothered with it, both day ;an<l night, for some time I had a professional nurse recommend the above oough syrup which I took with wonder­ ful results, and, now, it is the only remedy I ever uso for colds.” Drice 35c. a bottle; large family size ■60c. at all druggists or dealers. Put up only by The T. Milburn Cd., JLtd.j Toronto, Ont. down with fever and I nursed him till the end, but before he died lib left me everything. It was all fixed up legal and proper by his own wish and I can prove it, though there was little enough to leave, for the "beep ranch was a wretched failure, and hd’d been too proud to write the truth home. Before he died, too, when the delirium was on him, he told me how he and his brothers had flooded the country here with counterfeit bills long ago, but I never meant to make use of that then. When I fell in with Gray in Melbourne about a year and a half ago, I remembered how much I looked like Andy, and Gray and I— well, we saw there was a good thin’g in it.’’ “So Gray came on here ahead and for a year paved the way by getting in with Mr. Roger Drake and then you appeared as Andrew and a few’ weeks ago you began to work 'Se­ cretly with your accomplice to ter­ rorize the family while yourself pre­ tending to be a victim as well!” Miles declared. “You knew you couldn’t get away with that accusa­ tion of counterfeiting if it came to a showdown for the ravings of a man in delirium wouldn’t be taken ser­ iously, but you and Gray knew, too, that if you forced the men of the family by anonymous threats of no­ toriety to commit ridiculous public acts you could soon put the screws- on them for money and increase yur demands until you had bled them white.” CHAPTER XIX “What was the first thing put you on the right track, Owen, jad-?’’ Scottie puffed contentedly on his pipe. “I think it was Andreev, himself,” Miles responded. “It struck me as odd in my first talk with Wells and little Miss Patricia that Hobart and Roger should both have made public exhibitions of themselves, but Andrew’s fit of supposed insanity took place safe at home, for the benefit of one of the servants alone. 'When I had made up my mind that insanity played no part in the strange events the only alternative to consider was blackmail, and it must have been for some indiscre­ tion or even crime committed in the far past. Right then the solution was in my grasp, for you had learn­ ed that in their youth Roger had been interested in chemistry, dye­ ing and in photography, that Hobart wa,s a pen-and-ink artist and Andrew had worked for a time in a pulp manufactoring plant. The old chest of metal junk which we carted away from under the floor of the summer house and destroyed- the morning after we wound up the case, Scottie did not contain, the remains of a printing press as you surmised, but the relic of a machine for making a replica of the silk threaded paper the government uses for genuine greenbacks and had been an origin­ al invention of the real Andrew. ' “It didn’t come to me even then that the truth was staring me that twenty-dollar bill Rip got knifed over and I found it was counterfeit. It was scorched -at one end, and knowing that Rip must have found it somewhere I concluded that it had been on the dust-heap where Miss Drake must have thrown it among the ashes which -she cleaned out of the drawing-room fireplace after I had seen her burning some­ thing there at midnight. “I recalled her words: “Ashes, every one. If only the first had never been conceived this horror would not have descended upon us.” She had known from the start what her brothers wore doing. None of her brothers knew until just before the explosion came that she had been wise all the time; they thought she believed that mythical tale of an inheritance and I could Kick my­ self for accepting it without verifi­ cation, but Wells had taken it for granted and so did I!” "It’s no worse than me!” Scottie remarked consolingly. “Why did­ n’t I see that tattoo mark on An­ drew’s arm when he took off his coat there in the garden just before Miss Hawks appeared? To be sure, my back was to him and everybody. How did you guess that the Hawks woman knew Andrew for an impos­ tor?” "I happened to bo in the hall when she run out of the house like a mad­ woman after a. tete-a-tete witih An- > drew and the next minute he upset,' the table and scalded his arm. It ' wasn’t a bad burn and it occurred to mo that it was just an excuso for a bandage!” Miles’ face sobered. "Gray was the real brains of the .scheme. It was he who wrote that devilishly satirical lecture and' forced poor Ro­ ger by anonymous threats to deliver it; ho who wrote the other anony­ mous letters, one of which he slipp­ ed into tifee house by moans of a French window which Andrew had left open for him and loft on tho hall table the night of my arrival, to be mixed with the mail next morning, when I concluded it was some member of the household1. He disguised his voice for the telephone threats which so agitated the family, but he cannot figure out how Roger Drake penetrated his habitual dis­ guise.” "Rogpr did, then?” asked the other. "Oh, yes, it was the shock of that which caused his stroke.” “Gray had a sort of half-labora­ tory back of his cottage and he was puttering about in it when Roger called. Just as he approached, Gray removed liis wig—land Roger saw that the elderly naturalist was really a young man in disguise. The log­ ical reason for it came over him with a rush and his only thought was to get home and warn his brothers, but he was stricken with the word unuttered upon his lips.” Mijes arose. “That papyrus was curious, wasn’t it?’,’ "It was an example of remarkably poor judgment on Rogers part, pic­ ture writing or no, if it was as you said, a complete record of the way they made their counterfeit money,” remarked Scottie. “It was more than that; an ex­ ample of the Drake conscious work­ ing overtime,” replied Miles “Roger had designed it. in the nature of a confession land meant to leave it on his death to his intimate friend, Professor Masterson, though when Osborne ransacked the storeroom he hoped to find something more tangible.” “There is one thing that still is dark to me.” Scottie pulled at his pipe, and finding it dead laid it on the mantel. “How did Osborne and his confederate know that the paper making machine was buried under the summer house?” ‘They only knew it was hidden somewhere, for the real Andrew must, have talked’ a bit more in. his dying ravings than Osborne told and I fancy they hoped to find the whole paraphernalia so that they could make some more of the queer money and shove it themselves.” (The End.) CROMARTY The annual business meeting of the W.M.S. was held on Thursday last at the home of Mrs. Bert Kers- lake with a good attendance. The meeting opened 'by singing the 128th hymn and prayer by the president, Mrs. Oliver. Reports • of the differ ent branches of the Society were, read which were very satisfactory, show­ ing a good increase over last year’s givings. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Mrs. Oliver, president; Mrs. Elder, 1st Vice-Pres.; Mrs. Jas. Scott, honorary president; Mrs. Thos. Scott, secre­ tary; Mrs. Hill, treasurer; Mrs. S1. A. Miller, Glad Tidings secretary; Pro­ gam committee, Mrs. Oliver, Mrs. El­ der, Mrs. ,S. A. Miller, Mrs. Donald McKellar, Mrs. Jas. Scott, Mrs. Thos Scott; Press Secretary, Mrs. S. A. Miller; Organist, Mrs. Ken. McKel­ lar; Assistant. Mrs. S. A. Miller. The meeting closed by singing hymn 452 and the Lord’s Prayer in unison. Being elected Moderator for the Presbyterian church of Mitchell, Mr. Bennie their late Pastor having ac­ cepted a call to Halifax, Rev. Mr. Elder of Cromarty, preached the “Pulpit Vacant” on Sunday last, Mr. Kerr, of Knox College, took charge of tho services in Hie absence of Mr. Elder our pastor. (Intended for last week) A good number of the congrega­ tion of Cromarty attended the fare­ well service in the Presbyterian Churi'h, Mitchell on Sunday evening last. The Pastor Rev. Bennie hav­ ing accepted a call to Halifax, N.S. Rev. Bennie choose for his text, the words which Moses left to the Chil­ dren of Isreal, a text which was very appropriate and encouraging for the occasion, “Underneath and around are His Everlasting Arms.’’ Miss Mary McKellar is at present visiting in Detroit. Mr. Joseph Spear© and family vis­ ited a few days last week with his son Lome in Harriston. Mr. Pullen and family moved last week on to the farm which he pur­ chased from Mr. Aldington. Mr. Al­ dington intends residing in Mit­ chell. “Don’t you know that you should always give half of the road to a woman driver?’’ asked the pojice of a motorist who came near having a collison’ on the street with another car. '“I always do,” the man replied, wlhen I find out which half of the road she wants.”—Selected. The whole Dominion is talking of the great, improvement in the Fam­ ily Herald 'and Weekly Star, Mont­ real. At $1 a year or three years for $2 it is the farmer’s highest divi­ dend paying investment, and the family circle 'gets with it the best of all magazines free. The Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited, Announces the appointment of A. O. Elliot As its Representative in This Territory, Courteous and prompt attention will be given to all sales and service requirements in accordance with established Ford policies. Owners of all models of Ford cars and trucks and Fordson tractors are assured of competent service and the exclusive use of genuine Ford parts. FORD MOTOR COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED, FORD, ONTARIO THAMES ROAD Mr, and Mrs. Wm. Pollen spent the week-end in Seaforth with Mr. and Mrs. Kestle. Mrs. Anson Smale had the misfor­ tune to fall and break her arm on Monday. Mr. Tom Ballantyne attended the jury at Goderich Tuesday. Mrs. K. McNieuI i- not improving as quickly as her friends would like to see. Mr. and Mrs. S. Austin have mov­ ed into the village for the winter. He is our genial blacksmith. Mr. Scott, Sr. is quite sick and un­ der the Doctor’s care. A nurse be­ ing called in on Sunday. The Boundary Club held their opening dance at the Hall on Friday with a good att«ndame. The next one will be held (hri.-nnas we>k. One day recently a “tidy-up” bri­ gade arrived at the church and with nails and hammers, brooms and pails went to work, cleaning, scrubb­ ing and polishing and trimming the hedge surrounding the Manse, piling CLUBBING RATES WITH OTHER PERIODICALS MAY BE HAD ON APPLICATION The Times-Advocate $2.00 per year; to United States $2.50. yr- The Times-Advocate andoThe Toronto Globe ........................... $6,75 The Times-Advocate and The Toronto Mail and Empire ....... $6.75 The Times-Advocate and The Toronto Daily Star ........... $6,75 The Times-Advocate and The London Free Press ................ $6,75 The Times-Advocate and Tim London Advertiser ................... $6.75 The Times-Advocate and The Farmers’ Sun ................. $3.25 The Times-Advocate and The Farmers’ Advocate ................... $3.00 The Times-Advocate and The Family Herald & Weekly Star $3.00 The Times-Advocate and The Canadian. 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Mon­ teith was elected president; Mr. JM- gar Monteith vice pres. Mr. P. P<•*+* smore was put in again as Se<:y- treas. The directors are Messrs. It. Williams. J. Hodgert., W. Stone, L« Thompson. T. Ballantyno, F. Col­ lings. It was decided to have vik oyster supper on the evening of Ih e. 14th in the Opera House, Exeter, tost the members and their partners. A. ear of coke was ordered. The meet;-* ing adjourned at 11.30. Mr. and Mrs. Dave McNicol and family, of Toronto, motored up ami visited over the week-end among roL atives. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Fulton, of Stratford were week-end callers co friends here. I i