and a sweeter smile than my big Jondo.

"Fred Ramer was desperately in need of money when he was plotting to
darken the life of Mary Marchland--that was just before the birth of
Eloise--and through her sorrow to break the heart of the man whom she
loved--I said we college boys were all in love with her, you remember.
Let me make it short now. One night Fred's father was murdered, by whom
was never exactly proven. But he was last seen alive with his ward,
Theron St. Wain, who, with his foster-brother, Bertrand, thoroughly
despised him for his plain robbery of their heritage.

"The case was strong against Theron, for the evidence was very damaging,
and it would have gone hard with him but for the foster-brother.
Bertrand St. Wain took the guilt upon himself by disappearing suddenly.
He was supposed to have drowned himself in the lower Mississippi, for
his body, recognized only by some clothing, was recovered later in a
drift and decently buried. So _he_ was effaced from the records of man."

In the dim light Jondo's blue eyes were like dull steel and his face was
a face of stone, but he continued:

"Just here Clarenden comes into the story. He learned it through Felix
Narveo, and Felix got it from the Mexicans themselves, that Fred Ramer
had plotted with them to put his father out of the way--I said he was
desperately in need of money--and to lay the crime on Theron St.
Vrain, by whose disgrace the life of Mary Marchland would be blighted,
and Fred would have his revenge and his father's money. Narveo was
afraid to act against Ramer, but nothing ever scared Esmond Clarenden
away from what he wanted to do. Through his friendship for St. Vrain, to
whom some suspicion still clung, and that lost foster-brother, Bertrand,
he turned the screws on Fred Ramer that drove him out of the country. He
landed, finally, at Santa Fe, and became Ferdinand Ramero. He managed by
his charming manners to enchant the sister of Felix Narveo--and you know
the rest."

Jondo paused.

"Didn't Felix Narveo go to Fort Leavenworth once, just before Uncle
Esmond brought us with him to Santa Fe?" I asked.

"Yes, he went to warn Clarenden not to leave you there unprotected, for
a band of Ramero's henchmen were on their way then to the Missouri
River--we passed them at Council Grove--to kidnap you three and take you
to old Mexico," Jondo said. "An example of Fred's efforts to get even
with Clarenden and of the loyalty of Narveo to his old college