A STARTLING STORY
"This is a painful subject for me, as you must be aware," Kate Gilbert
said. "I shall tell the story in as few words as possible, and if you
are a gentleman, you will not interrupt or cause me more suffering by
protesting your innocence."
"I promise not to interrupt," Sidney Prale replied. "I want justice and
nothing more, Miss Gilbert."
"Ten years ago you were a clerk in the office of Griffin, the big
broker, were you not?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Griffin took a fancy to you, after your father died and left you
alone in the world without any money. He gave you odd jobs to do around
his residence, fed and clothed you and arranged it so that you could go
to school. Your uncle, the father of George Lerton, your cousin, would
do nothing for you because there had been a family quarrel several years
before.
"Had it not been for Mr. Griffin you might have been an ordinary street
Arab. He sent you to a business college after you had finished the
public schools, and then he took you into his office and started you on
a business career.
"You showed great promise, and Mr. Griffin was delighted and advanced
you rapidly. You seemed to know the meaning of gratitude and worked
hard. You were ambitious, too--always said that some day you would be
worth a million dollars.
"Step by step, you went up the ladder. Then it happened that your
cousin, George Lerton, obtained a position in the same office after his
father's death. He had had the advantage of a college education and knew
how to handle himself in the presence of other men, and yet you, after
your early struggle and with an inferior education and inferior
opportunities, easily outdistanced him.
"Other men began talking about you as a coming man--bankers and brokers,
business men and financiers. Mr. Griffin finally gave you the post of
chief clerk and adviser. You worked hard and seemed to be loyal and
faithful. You got profits for your employer where other men would have
caused losses. So he let you more and more into his confidence.
"You got to know the secrets of big deals, the inside facts of the
country's finance. You spoke in millions, but got only a nice salary.
Your ambition to be worth a million dollars seemed to be not susceptible
of gratification. Yet you saved money, and took advantage of small,
solid investments now and then.
"After a while you met a girl and fell in love with her. She was the
sort who wished wealth above all, and you soon found that out. You
became engaged to her, however. Then a rival appeared in the field, a
wealthier man. You realized that the girl was shallow in that she
favored the man with more money, but you were so infatuated that you
overlooked that. You wanted the girl and, to get her, you had to have
more money.
"Then you began to feel dissatisfied. You didn't want to grow gradually,
as other men did. You wanted the foundation for a fortune--enough to use
in a plunge in the market. You wanted to be rich as soon as possible.
"You began to think, perhaps, that you were not getting ahead. You
worked in an atmosphere of wealth, you heard men speak in terms of
millions, while you had less than ten thousand dollars in the bank. You
began to think that Mr. Griffin should do more for you, that he had not
done enough. You forgot that he had picked you up and made you what you
were, that you had so much more than other men who had not been equally
fortunate in finding a sponsor."
She ceased speaking for a moment, but Sidney Prale never took his eyes
from her face. Be ungrateful to Griffin? He never had dreamed of that!
He always had worshiped Griffin for what the broker had done for him; he
realized what he might have been only for Griffin. But he had promised
not to interrupt, and so he said nothing, merely waited for Kate Gilbert
to continue her recital.
"You made certain plans," she went on. "Certain big business deals were
in the wind, and, as Mr. Griffin's confidential and chief clerk, you
knew all about them. There were millions of dollars involved, the
control of several large companies, and more than that; for Mr. Griffin
and his associates were fighting a group of financial thieves who were
trying to wreck excellent properties for the sake of making a gain. It
was a fight for more than money--it was a fight to keep big business
honest, to drive off the wolves and make finance solid. It was a
tremendous thing!
"And you, a boy picked up and educated by a broker, who had risen
through his kindness, knew as much of the big deal contemplated as some
of the wealthiest and most influential men of the country. There were
men in the other group who would have given a million gladly to know
what you, a clerk, knew.
"You were approached by one of that band of financial wolves. You were
willing to listen. You wanted money because the girl with whom you were
infatuated demanded it before she would marry you. You believed that
Griffin had not done enough for you and you agreed to sell him out--him
and his associates."
Sidney Prale gasped, sat up straight in his chair, opened his mouth as
if to speak, but did not when he saw the expression in her face. He
decided to keep his word.
"The agreement was made," she went on. "And you, who could have demanded
half a million easily for the information you had, sold out your
benefactor and his friends and the decent element on the Street for a
paltry hundred thousand! You sold your honor and your manhood for that.
"At this juncture, the woman in the case informed you that she wished to
break the engagement, because a man of money--your rival--had asked her
to marry him, and she wanted his wealth. Instead of seeing what sort of
woman she was--instead of coming to your senses then and stopping your
deal with the other side--you took the opposite course. You would take
the money, betray your benefactor and his friends, and leave the
country! With that money as a foundation, you would build up a fortune.
And that is what you did, Sidney Prale!
"You arranged everything nicely. You gave those men the information and
received your hundred thousand and then you quit your job and sailed
away to Honduras.
"The battle began on the Street, and because of the information you had
sold them, the financial wolves got the better of the honest element. It
was a battle that lasted for two weeks. The wolves met every move,
because they knew everything that had been planned. Fortunes were lost
overnight. A score of big, decent men were ruined in their attempt to
defeat the wolves and keep finance clean.
"Mr. Griffin, the man who had done everything for you, went down in the
crash--because you had sold him out! It was only five years ago that he
got new backing and fought his way up again. Others went down with him,
and some never regained their footing--because of what you had done,
because you had played traitor! They knew there had been a leak, and
there was an investigation. You had sailed away the day before the fight
began, and that looked suspicious, for you had made up your mind
suddenly. Finally it was discovered that you were the traitor in the
camp!
"My father was one of Mr. Griffin's associates, Mr. Prale. He lost his
fortune, of course. We could have endured that, but the blow cost him
his health. He was a giant of a man at that time, the best father in the
world. You should see him now, Mr. Prale--see what your treason made of
him. He is an invalid who sits all day in his wheel chair. At times his
mind wanders and he fights that battle over again and calls curses down
upon the head of the man who played traitor! My big, handsome, rich
father is a broken, thin-faced man whose voice is a whisper and whose
hands tremble--because of what you did. You beast!"
She began sobbing softly as she glanced through the window, and Sidney
Prale started to get out of his chair. But she faced him again quickly
and motioned for him to remain silent.
"You wanted to hear it, and so I shall tell it all!" she declared. "You
had been clever; you had done this thing in such a manner than the law
could not touch you. Yet you must have been afraid of it, for you fled
the country. It was some time before things were adjusted, and then
those men you had betrayed got together and determined to make you pay!
"They told the story to others, and they began gathering information
about you. You were making your million, all right, on the foundation
that had wrecked a score of fortunes and lives--on treason instead of
superior financial ability--and they swore that you should pay.
"They knew my father's story, of course, and knew that we had very
little money. So they provided for him, and gave me funds and sent me to
Honduras to spy upon you. Marie, my maid since girlhood, who worshiped
my father and knew all the circumstances, went with me. Soon after I
reached Honduras, I found that you were selling out with the intention
of returning to New York and enjoying your million.
"I communicated with the others and told them all I knew of your plans,
whereupon they made some plans of their own. They won the sympathy of
the most influential men in the city. They determined to make you pay!
"That is why the big trust company would not accept your account. A
whisper in the ear of the hotel manager by the president of the company
that owned the hotel, and you were as good as ordered out. Can you
understand now, Sidney Prale? Coadley, the lawyer, was told that he will
be made a nobody by the influential men of the town unless he ceased to
work for you, and he dropped your case.
"But there was to be no violence, and because they have descended to
that, I have ceased to be interested in the affair. I know nothing about
the Shepley murder case or any trouble it may have caused you. That is
quite another matter. Now that I have told my story, I hope that you are
satisfied. It has shown you, I trust, that I know all, and that any
falsehood you may utter will have no effect on me."
"I do not intend uttering a falsehood, Miss Gilbert," Sidney Prale
assured her. "What you have said has amazed and shocked me. So that is
why I was treated so badly upon returning to my home?"
"Exactly," she said.
"Now listen to me one moment, I beg of you. There is some mystery here,
and though it is ten years old, I shall solve it. Miss Gilbert--whether
you believe me or not--I am not guilty of such treachery. I had no
dealings with the financial wolves. When I left the United States I took
with me the ten thousand dollars I had saved--nothing more. And I left
nothing behind."
"You made a million in ten years with a capital of ten thousand?" she
asked, with a slight sneer.
"I did, Miss Gilbert! I can prove every transaction, show you or anybody
else exactly how I did it. Disbelieve me or not, it is the truth that I
am innocent. If my people were sold out at that time, somebody else got
the selling price. I was chagrined because my love affair had gone
wrong. I shook the dust of New York from my feet. I did not even look at
a New York newspaper for more than a year. Somebody else got the money,
and I got a nasty name. And Mr. Griffin, who was as a father to me,
thinks that I was an ungrateful cur!
"This thing is hard to believe, Miss Gilbert. But I never can thank you
enough for telling me. I am going to clear myself before I am done."
"I cannot believe you, Mr. Prale! The proof was there!"
"And who furnished it?" he demanded. "Who is handling this campaign of
vengeance against me now?"
"You scarcely can expect me to tell you that," she said. "I am
done--have nothing more to do with the affair--but I am not going to be
a traitor, as you were!"
"If you ever are convinced, Miss Gilbert, that I am entirely innocent,
that somebody has put this stain upon me for their own reasons, can I
count upon your friendship?"
"Convince me that injustice has been done you, Mr. Prale, and I'll do
everything in my power to make amends--and so will all the others!"
"Thanks for that assurance," Prale said. "I am going to clear myself in
your eyes, and in the eyes of the others. I remember the details of that
big deal perfectly and I shall know how to start to work."
"I cannot understand this," she said. "You speak as if you were indeed
innocent, but I cannot believe it!"
"I am innocent!"
"If so, who is guilty?"
"That is what I intend finding out."
"But you were in their confidence--you knew all the details of their
financial plans," Kate Gilbert said. "You were the only one who could
have betrayed them. You scarcely expect me to believe that they betrayed
themselves."
"Any spying clerk in the Griffin offices could have told the enemy
enough to betray the plans," Prale replied. "By the way, who is this man
who goes too far and insists upon using violence? Who is the man who
seems to be so extraordinary vindictive toward me in this affair?"
"I can tell you nothing more," she declared. "It would not be fair to
them."
"But they have Jim Farland, and Heaven knows what they are doing to him,
simply because he will not turn against me. Is it fair to Jim Farland's
wife and child?"
"I--I am being kept informed," she assured him. "If they treat Mr.
Farland badly, or detain him much longer, I shall speak. But until then,
I have nothing to say. You see, Mr. Prale, I cannot believe that you are
innocent and have been misjudged. The evidence against you is so
conclusive, and I have learned to hate you as the man who betrayed his
benefactor and friends and wrecked my father's health. But, if you are
innocent, I hope that you will forgive me."
"I'll forgive you gladly," said Sidney Prale. "I realize what you must
have suffered, and what your father must have suffered, too. I am going
to prove my innocence; and then I hope to claim you as one of my
friends."
"I am sorry that I cannot believe you," she said again, "although I
would like to. I would prefer to think that no man could be so
ungrateful as to do such a thing. I'd like to have my faith in human
nature restored. If you prove your innocence, I shall be very glad
indeed!"
Then she called for Marie, and when the maid came from the adjoining
room, Sidney Prale ushered the two women to the door and watched as they
went down the hall toward the elevator. But Kate Gilbert did not glance
back.