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Show ' THE BINGHAM NEWS. BINGHAM, UTAH "TJiimiuimimmi '''''''"tmiiiimiiiiiiiiiui Up By WILLIAM MACLEOD RA1NE Copyright by William Mae Leod Raina HiitmiiiMiiilMiiiiimiiii m,3w Jerry's laugh was a contemptuous Jeer. "That's right I'd forgot that. lie was your guest, wasn't he, Bromfleld?" "What's the good of discussing It here?" asked the tortured host "Not a bit," admitted Whltford. "Ac-tions talk, not words. Have you seen the police yet Bromfleld?" "N-n- ot yet" "What's he gonna see the police about?" Jerry wanted to know, his chin Jutting out "To tell them that he saw Collins draw a gun and heard shots fired," re-torted the mining man Instantly. "Not what he's been tellin' me. He'll not pull any such story not unless he wants to put himself In a cell for life." "Talk sense. You can't frighten Bromfleld. He knows that's foolish-ness." "Does her The crook turned de-risive eyes on the victim he was tor-turing. Certainly the society man did not look a picture of confidence. The shadow of a heavy fear hung over htm. The telephone rangr-- Bromfield's trembling fingers picked up the trans- - No Ue could save him. The 'onfji thing he could do was to sugnrcottf the truth; i He set about making out : a case for himself as skillfully as hi CMld. "I'm a man of the world, Mr. Whit ford," he explained. "When I meet an ugly fact I look It In the face. ' This man Lindsay was making a greut Impression on you and' Bee. Neither of you seemed able quite to realize his his deficiencies, let us say. I felt myself at a disadvantage with him because he's such a remarkably virile young man and he constantly reminded you both of the West you love. It seemed fair to all of us to try him out to find out whether at bottom he was a decent fellow or not So I laid a little trap to find out" "Not the way Durand tells It," an-swered the miner bluntly. "He says you paid him a thousand dollars t arrange a trap to catch Lindsay.", "Either he misunderstood me or he's distorting the facts," claimed the club-man with an assumption of boldness. "That eught to be easy to prove. We'll make an appointment with him for this afternoon and check up by the dictagraph." Bromfleld laughed uneasily "Is that necessary, Mr, Whltford? Burely my word Is good. I have the honor to teU you that I did nothing discred-itable." v - Whltford leaned back In his swivel chair and looked steadily at the man to whom his daughter was engaged. "Im going to the bottom of this, Brom-fleld. That fellow Durand ought to go to the penitentiary. We're gathering the evidence to send him there.' Now he tells me he'll drag you down to ruin with him If he goes. Come clean. Can he do it)" "Well, I wouldn't say- - "Don't evade, Bromfleld. Yes or no." . "I suppose he can." The words came sulkily after a long pause. "You did hire 10m to destroy Lind-say's reputation." "Lindsay had no busluess here In New York. lie was disturbing Bee's peace of mind. I wanted to get rid of him and send htm home." - "So you paid a crook scoundrel who hated him to murder his reputation." "That's not what I coll It," defended the clubman. "It doesn't matter what you call It. The fact stands." "I told hlni explicitly again and again that there was to be no vlo-- ' lence. I Intended only to show him up. I had a right to do It." Whltford got up and walked up and down the room. He felt like laying . . hands on this well-dresse- d scamp and throwing him out of the office. He tast-ed something of his daughter's sense of degradation at ever having been 7 connected with a tnun of so little character. The experience was a bit- - terly humiliating one to him. For Bee was. In his opinion, the cleanest, truest little thoroughbred under heav-en. The only questionable thing he had ever known her to do was to en-- " gage herself to this man. . Colin came to a halt In front of the other. "We've got to protect you, no mat-ter how little you deserve It. I can't have Bee's name dragged Into all the papers of the country. The case against Durand will have to be dropped. He's lost his power anyhow and he'll never get It back." "Then It doesn't matter much wheth-er he's tried or not". That phase of the subject Whltford did not pursue. He began to feel In his vest pocket for something. - "Of course you understand that we're through with you, Bromfleld. Neither Beatrice nor I rare to have anything more to do with you." "I don't see why," protested Brom-fleld. "As a man of the world" "If you don't see the reason I'm not able to explain It to yon." Whit-ford- 's fingers found what they were the precinct, but Tim did not show it. He preferred to let Dave think that, he had been breaking the rules of the force for the sake of a little, private graft There was no reason whatever for warning Durand that they were aware of the clever trick he had pulled oft In regard to the partition. CHAPTER XIX, Two and Two Make Four. From Maddock's the Whltfords drove straight to the apartment house of Clarendon Bromfleld. , For the third time that morning the clubman's valet found himself overborne by the In-sistence of visitors. "We're coming In, you know," the owner of the Bird Cage told him In an-swer to his explanation of why his mas-ter could not be seen. "This Is impor-tant business and we've got to see Bromfleld." "Yes. sir, but he said " "He'll change his mind when he knows why we're here." Whltford pushed In and Beatrice followed him. From the adjoining room eame the soond of voices. "I thought you told us Mr. Bromfleld had gone to sleep and the doctor said he wasn't to be awakened," said Bea-trice with a broad, boyish smile at the man's discomfiture. "The person inside wouldn't take no, miss, for an answer. "He was like us, wasn't he? Did he give his name?" asked the young woman. "No, miss. Just said he was from the Omnium club." Whltford and his daughter ex-changed glances. "Same business we're on. Announce us and we'll go right In." They were on his heels when he gave their names. Bromfleld started up, too late to pre-vent their entrance. He stood silent for a moment, uncertain what to do, disregarding his fiancee's glance of hos-tile Inquiry lifted toward the other guest. The mining man forced his hand. "Won't you introduce us, Clarendon?" he asked bluntly. Keluetantly their host went through the formula. He was extremely un-easy. There was material for an ex-plosion present in this room that would blow him sky-hig- h if a match should be applied to It. Let Durand get to tell-ing what he knew about Clarendon and the Whltfords would never speak to him again. They might even spread a true story that would bar every house and club In New York to him. "We've heard, of Mr. Durand," said Beatrice. Her tone challenged the attention of the gang leader. The brave eyes flashed defiance straight at him. A pulse of anger was throbbing In the soft round throat Inscrutably he watched her. It was his habit to look hard at attractive women. "Most people have," he admit-ted. CHAPTER XVIII Continued. i -1- 2- "Must be. According to Lindsay's tory the fellow was aiming straight at It" "Well, they're not here. See for your-self." She was right There was no evi-dence whatever that any bullets had passed through the partition. They covered every Inch of the cross wall In their search. "Lindsay must have been mistaken," decided Whltford, hiding his keen dls- - i appointment. "This man Collins f couldn't have beep. tfcftig in this dlrec- - , tlon. Of course everything was con- - fusion. No doubt they shifted round in the dark and" He stopped, struck by an odd ex-pression on the face of his daughter. She bad stooped and picked up a small fragment of shaving from the floor. Her eyes went from it to a plank In the partition and then back to the thin crisp of wood. "What la it. honey?" asked Whlt-ford. The girl turned to Muldoon, alert In every quivering muscle. "That express wagon the one leaving the house as we drove up did you notice It?" "Number 714," answered Tim, promptly. "Can you have It stopped and the man arrested? Don't you see? They've rebuilt this partition. They were tak-ing away in that wagon the planks with the bullet holes." Muldoon was out of the room and going down the stairs before she had finished speaking. It was a quarter of an hour later when he returned. Beatrice and her father were not to be een. From back of the partition ennte an eager, vibrant voice. "Is that you, Mr. Muldoon? Come here quick. We've found one of the bullets In the wall." The policeman passed out of the door through which Bromfleld had made his escape and found another small door opening from the passage. It took htm Into the cubby-hol- e of a room In which were the wires and In-struments used to receive news of the races. "What about the express wagon?" asked Whltford. "We'll get It Word is out for those on duty to keep an eye open for It Where's the bullet?" , Beatrice pointed It out to him. There It was, safely embedded In the plaster, about five feet from the ground. "Durand wasn't thorough enough. He quit too soon," said the officer with a grin. "Crooks most always do slip up somewhere and leave evidence be-hind them. Yuh'd think Jerry would have remembered the bullet as well as the bullet hole." They found the mark of the second bullet too. It had struck a telephone receiver and taken a chip out of it They measured with a tape-lin- e the distance from the floor and the side walls to the place where each bullet struck. Tim dug out the bullet they had found. They were back In the front room again when a huge figure appeared In reached him presently that aame sink-ing at the pit of the stomach he had known when Clay had thrashed him. He learned that when lawbreuker la going strong, friends at court who are under obligations to him are a bulwark of strength, but when one's lower is shaken politicians prefer to take no risks. No news spreads more rapidly than that of the impending fall of a chieftain. The word was passing among the wise that Jerry Durand was to be thrown overboard. Durand tried to make an appoint-ment with Whltford., That gentleman declined to see him. Jerry persisted. Ue offered to meet him. at one of his clubs. He telephoned to the house, but could not get any result more sat-isfactory than the cold voice of a serv-an- t saying, "Mr. Whltford does not wish to talk with you, air." At last he telegraphed. , The message read: "I'll come to your house at eight this evening. Better see me for mis-sie'- e sake." It was signed by Durand. When Jerry called h,e was admitted. Whltford met him with chill hos-tility. He held the telegram In his hand. "What does this message mean?" he asked bluntly. "Your daughter's engaged to Brom-fleld, ain't slier demanded the ex-pri-fighter, his bulbous eyes full on his host. "Thut's our business, sir." "I got a reason for asking. She Is or she ain't. Which Is t?" "We'll not discuss my daughter's af-fairs." "All right since you're so d d par-ticular. We'll discuss Bromfleld's. I warned him to keep his mouth shut or he'd get Into trouble." "He was released from prison this afternoon." "Did I say anything about prison?" Durand asked. "There's other kinds of grief beside being In stir. I've got this guy right." "Just what do you mean, Mr. Dur-and?" "I mean that he hired me to get Lindsay In bad with you and the girl. He was to be caught at the Omnium club with a woman when the police raided the place, and It was to get In-to the papers." "I don't believe If said Whltford promptly. "You will. I had a dictagraph In the room when Bromfleld came to see me. You can hear It all In his own voice." "But there wasn't any woman with Lindsay at Maddock's when the raid was pulled off." "Sure there wasn't I threw Brora-flel- d down." "You arraaged to have Lindsay killed Insteatl" "Forget that stuff. The point Is that If you don't call off the district attorney, I'll tell all I know about son-in-la- Bromfleld. He'll be ruined for life." "To hear you tell It.. "All right Ask him." "I shall." "Conspiracy Is what the law calls It. Maybe he can keep outa stir. But when his swell friends hear it they'll turn their backs on Bromfleld. You know It" "I'll not know It unless Mr. Brom-fleld tells me so himself. I don't care anything for your dictagraph. I'm no eavesdropper." "You tell him what he's up against and he'll come through all right I'll see that every newspaper In New York carries the story If you don't notify me today that this attack on me Is off. I'll learn you silk stockings you can't make Jerry Durand the goat." Whltford announced bis decision sharply. "If you'll leave me your tele-phone number, I'll let you know later In the day what well do." He had told Durand that ho did not believe his story. He had tried to reject It because he did not want to accept It but after the man had gone and he thought It over, his Judgment was that It held some germ of truth. If so, be was bound to protect Brom-fleld as far as he could. No matter what Clarendon had done, he could not throw overboard to the sharks the man who was still engaged to his daughter. He might not like him. - In point of fact he did not. But he had to stand by him till he was out of bis trouble Colin Whltford went straight to his daughter. "Honey, this man Durand has Just brought me a story about Clarendon. He snys he paid him to get Clay Into trouble at the Omnium club In order to discredit him with us." "I'm going to see Clarendon. If it's true I don't want you to see hlin ngaln.. Authorize me to break the en-gagement for you." They talked It over n few minutes. Beatrice slipped the engagement ring from her finger and gave It to her father with a sigh. "You can't do wrong without paying for It. !nd." 'That's right. Bromfleld" "I'm not thinking of Clarendon. I'm thinking about me. I feel as If I had been dragged In the dust," she said wearily. - "I was III, I keep telling you."." "Your man could telephone, couldn't he? He wasn't 111, too, was he?" Whltford Interfered. "Hold ca, honey. Don't rub it lu. Clarendon was a bit rattled. That's natural The question is, what's he going to do now?" Their host groaned. "Durund'U see I go to the chair and I only struck tile man to save my own life. I wasn't try-ing to kill the fellow. He was shooting at me. and I had to do It" "Of course," agreed Whltford, "We've got proof of that Lindsay is one witness. He must huve seen ft all. I've got In my pocket one of the bullets Collins shot. That's more evidence. Then" Beatrice broke In excitedly. "Dad, Mr. Muldoon Just told me over the phone that they've got the express wagon. The plank with the bullet holea was In it And the driver has confessed that he and a carpenter, whose name he had given, changed the partition for Durand." Whltford gave a subdued whoop. "We win. That lets you out Claren-don. The question now Isn't whether you or Clay will go to the penitentiary, but whether Durand will. We can show he's been trying to stand In the way of Justice, that he's been cooking up false evidence." "Let's hurry l Let's get to the police right away I" the girl cried, her eyes shining with excitement. "We ought not to lose a minute. We can get Clay out In ttme to go home to dinner with us." Bromfleld smiled wanly. He came to time as gallantly as he could. "All right. Tm elected to take his place, I see." "Only for a day or two, Clarendon," said the older man. "As soon as we can get together a coroner's Jury we'll straighten everything out." "Yes," agreed the clubman lifelessly. It was running through-hi- s mind al-ready that If he should be freed of the murder charge, he would only hove escaped Scylla to go to wreck on Cha-rybdl- s. For It was a twenty-to-on- e bet that Jerry would go to Whltford with the story of his attempt to hire the gang leader to smirch Lindsay's repu-tation. It must be admitted that when Brom-fleld made up his mind to clear Lindsay he did H thoroughly. His confession to the police was qulpt and business-like. He admitted responsibility for the presence of the westerner at the Omnium club. He explained that his guest had neither gambled nor taken any liquors, that he had come only as a spectator out of curiosity. The story of the killing was told by htm simply and clearly. After he had struck down the gunman, he had done a bolt down-stairs and got away by a back alley. His Instinct had been to escape from the raid and from the consequences of what he had done, but of course he could not let anybody else suffer In his place. So he had come to give him-self up. . The late afternoon papers carried the story that Clarendon Bromfleld, well-know- n man about town, had con-fessed to having killed "Slim" Collins and had completely exonerated Lind-say. It was expected that the latter would be released Immediately. He was. That evening he dined at the home of the Whltfords. The mine owner had wanted to go on the bond of Bromfleld, but his offer had been rejected. "We'll hear what the coroner's Jury has to say," the man behind the desk at headquarters had decided. "It'll not hurt him to rest a day or two In the cooler." After dinner the committee of de-fense met In the Red room and dis-cussed ways and means. Johnnie and his bride were present because It would have been cruel to exclude them, but for the most part they were silent members. Tim Muldoon arrived with Annie MUllkan, both of them some-what awed by the atmosphere of the big house adjoining the Drive. Each of them brought a piece of Informa-tion valuable to the cause. The man In charge of the blotter at the station had told Tim that from a dip called Fog Coney, one of those ar-rested In the gambling-hous- e raid, an automatic gun with two chambers dis-charged had been taken and turned In by those who searched him. It had re-quired some maneuvering for Tim to get permission to see Fog alone, but he had used his Influence on the force and managed this. Fox was a sly dog. He wanted to make sure on which side his bread was buttered before he became communi-cative. At first he had been willing to tell exactly nothing. He had al-ready been seen by Durand, and he 1im! ft vn pronounced respect for that personage. It was not until he had become convinced that Jerry's star was on the wane that he had "come through" with what Muldoon wanted. Then he admitted that he had picked the automatic up from tiie floor where Collins had dropped It when he fell. His story further corroborated that of the defense. He hud seen "Slim" fire twice before he was struck by the chair. Clay summed up in a sentence the result of all the evidence they had collected. "It's not any longer a ques-tion of whether Bromfleld goes to pris-on, but of Durand. The fellow 1ms sure overplayed his hnnd." The Girl. Let Bromfleld Have It Straight From the Shoulder. mitter. He listened a moment, then turned it over to Beatrice. "For you." Her part of the conversation was limited. It consisted of the word "Yes" repeated at Intervals and a con-cluding, "Oh, I'm so glad. Thank you." Her eyes were sparkling when she bung up. "Good news, dad," she said. "I'll tell you later." . "Mr. Lindsay la our friend," she said. "We've Just come from seeing him." The man to whom she was engaged had been put through so many flutters of fear during the last twelve hours that a new one more or less did not matter. But he was still not shock; proof. Ills fingers clutched tighter the arm of the chair. "W-wh- at did he tell yon?" Beatrice looked Into his eyes and read In them once more stark fear. Again she, had a feeling that there was something about the whole affair she had not yet fathomed some secret that Clay and Clarendon and perhaps this captain of thugs knew. She tried to read what he was hiding, groped In her mind for the key to his terror. What could It be that he was afraid Clay had told her? What was It they all knew except Lindsay's friends? And why, since Clarendon was trembling lest It be discovered, should the Arlzonan, too, Join the con-spiracy of silence? At any rate she would not uncover her hand. "He told us several things," she said slgnlflcontly. "You've got to make opou confession, Clary." The chewed his cigar and looked ut her. "What would he confess? Thnt the man with him murdered Collins?" "That's uot true," said the girl quickly. 7Wi Durand laughed brutally as he rose. "Good news, eh? Get all you can. You'll need It Take that from me. It's straight Your friend's In trouble up to the neck." He swaggered to the door and turned. "Don't forget Bromfleld. Keep outa this or you'll be sorry." His voice was like the crack of a trainer's whip to animals In a circus. For once Bromfleld did not Jump through the hoop. "Oh, go to the devil," he said In Irritation, flushing angrily. "Better not get gay with me," ad-vised Durand sourly. After the door had closed on him there was a momentary pause. The younger man spoke awkwardly. "You can tell me now what It was Mr. Lind-say told you." "We'd like to know for sure whether you're with us or with Durand," said Whltford mildly. "Of course we know the answer to that. You're with us. But we want to hear you say It flat-foot- ." "Of coarse I'm with you. That Is, I'd like to be. But I don't want to get Into trouble, Mr. Whltford. Can you blame me for that?" "You wouldn't get Into trouble," ar-gued the mine owner Impatiently. "1 keep teiiing you thai." Beatrice, watching the younger man closely, saw as In a flush the solution of this mystery the explanation of the tangle to which various scattered threads had been leading her. "Are you sure of that, dad?" "How could he be hurt, Bee?" The girl let Bromfleld have It straight from the shoulder. "Because Clay didn't kill that man Collins. Clarendon did If "My G , you know!" he cried, aslien-faced- . "He told you." "No, he didn't tell us. For some rea-son he's protecting you. But I know It Just the same. You did If "It was In he pleaded. "Then why didn't you say so? Why did you let Clay be accused Instead of coming forward at once?" "1 was waiting to see if he couldn't show he was Innocent without " "Without getting you Into It You wanted to be shielded at any cost." The scorn that Intolerant youth has for moral turpitude rang In her clear voice. "I thought maybe we could both gel out of It .that way," he explained weakly. "Oh, you thought I . As soon as you saw this hiortiliig's paper you ought to have hurried to the police station and given yourself pp," ,, "So Lindsay's your friend, eh? Dif-ferent here, miss." Jerry pieced to-gether what the clubman had told him and what he had since learned about her. He knew that this must be the girl to whom his host was engaged. "How about you, Bromfleld?" he sneered. The clubman stiffened. "I've nothing agalnRt Mr. Lindsay." "Thought ymi had." "Of course he hasn't Why should he?" asked Beatrice, backing up Clar-endon. Durand looked at her with a bold In-solence that was an Insult. His eyes moved up and down the long, slim curves of her figure. "I expect he could find a handsonfe reason it he looked around for 1t, miss." The girl's father clenched his fist.' A flush of anger nwept hU ruddy'cheeks. He .held himself, however, to the trtnV ject. '- - : - " . "You-fwge- t, Mn Dorand.'ttiut Had--sa- y last n!jrhU-k- ' '" Beat If Ordered Gorilla Dave, His Head Thrust Forward In a Threat "You'sa Got No Business Hers!" the doorway and stood there blocking It. "Whatta youse doln' here?" de-manded a husky voice. Muldoon nodded a greeting. " 'Lo, Dave. Just lookln' around to see the scene of the scrap. How about yuh?" "Beat K." ordered Gorilla Dave, his head thrust forward In a threat "Youse got no business here." "Friends av mine." The officer In-dicated the young woman and her fa-ther. "They wanted to see where 'Slim' was knocked out. So I showed 'em. No harm done." Dave moved to one side. "Beat It," t ordered acatp. , . . . . In the pocket of Muldoon was a re-quest of the district attorney for ad-mission to the house for the party, with an O. K. by the captain of police lu "Of Course, I'm Not Goof Enough. I Know That No Man's Good Enough for a Good Woman." looking for.. He fished a ring from his pocket and put it on the desk. "Beatrice asked me to give you this." ' "I don't think that's fair. If she wants to throw me over, she ought to ' tell me her reasons herself." .; "She's telling them through me. I j don't wimt to be more explicit unless i you force me." ' . . "Of course I'm nut good enough . I know. that No man's good ehougli .. for a good woman. . Hat I'm as good - , as oilier fellows. W 1on't claim te j be angels. New 'Tut .doesn't, sprout - wings.".-'7- : I '' ; (TO BX CONTINUKDJ J , ... - . J CHAPTER XX On the Carpet. The question at Issue was not wheth-er Beatrice would break with her fiance, but In what way it should be done. If her father found him guilty of what Durand had said, he was. to dismiss him brusquely; if not, Beatrice wanted to disengage herself gently and with contrition. Whltford summoned Bromfleld to his office where the personal eqiiatloh would be less pronounced. He put to him plainly the' charge, made by Jerry and demanded an auswer. , . , . . Before twelve hours more had passed Durand discovered this him-self. He had been too careless, too sure that he was outside of and be-yond the law. At first he had laughed contemptuously at the advice of his henchmen t get to cover before It was too late. "They can't touch no." he bragged. "They daren't." . But It came to him with a sickening realization that the district attorney meant business. He was going after him Just as though be were an ordinary crook. - Jerry began to use his "puH." There |