in
black a few steps away.

Horace Kelsey at once stepped up to the person indicated, Ralph beside him.

"We are interested in these prisoners," he said. "Will you tell me why they
have been arrested?"

"I am not at liberty to say much just now----" began the man in black.

"Are they not the Westville post office robbers?" questioned Horace,
eagerly.

"Ah! What do you know of that case?" and the quiet-looking man became
interested at once.

Ralph told him what he knew in a few brief, well-chosen words. The man
smiled.

"You have hit it on the head," he said. "They are the guilty parties. I am
a post office detective, and have just run them down."

"And is Percy Paget as guilty as the rest?"

"He was drawn into the scheme by this Brady, who is a very smart fellow.
Brady also drew in the other man, who was formerly a horse dealer in this
city."

"And did you obtain the money and packages that were stolen?" asked Horace
Kelsey.

"We recovered nearly everything. By the way," went on the detective, "did
you say your name was Ralph Nelson?"

"Yes, sir."

"I overheard this Percy Paget say how he had put a valise in your yard in
order to throw suspicion on you. I knew of that valise being found. You are
now cleared on that point."

"I am glad of it," replied Ralph, heartily.

"There is something else which may interest you. I do not quite understand
it, because this Paget boy is one of the robbers. Among the registered
letters which Dock Brady held was one sent by Squire Paget to some friend
in New York. This contained several important papers relating to some
property in Westville belonging to a Mrs. Martha Nelson, widow of the late
Randolph Nelson----"

"My mother!" shouted Ralph. "Hurrah! the missing papers have been found!"

"Dock Brady was evidently holding them to obtain money from the squire on
them," went on the man in black. "What shall we do with them? Under the law
they ought to be forwarded to the party in New York."

"Keep them until matters can be straightened out," said Horace Kelsey,
coming to Ralph's rescue. "Listen, and I will tell you where we are going,
and what my young friend intends to do."

CHAPTER XL.

THE EXPOSURE--CONCLUSION.

Let us again shift the scene to Westville, and for the last time.

Mrs. Nelson had recovered from the first effects of her severe shock
attending the announcement that her son was dead, but she was still very
weak and sick.

"Poor Ralph!