as also honest in not wanting to know the truth."

"He might have confided in me," I said.

"It would have been a good deal better if he had. But in order to
understand Rad's point of view, you must take into account Jeff's
character. He appears to have been a reckless, dashing, headstrong, but
exceedingly attractive fellow. His father put up with his excesses for
six years before the final quarrel. Cat-Eye Mose, so old Jake tells me,
moped for months after his disappearance. Rad, as a little fellow,
worshipped his bad but charming brother.--There you have it. Jeff turns
up again with a hard luck story, and Mose and Radnor both go back to
their old allegiance.

"Jeff is in a bad hole, a fugitive from justice with the penitentiary
waiting for him. He confesses the whole thing to Radnor--extenuating
circumstances plausibly to the fore. He has been dishonest, but
unintentionally so. He wishes to straighten up and lead a respectable
life. If he had, say fifteen hundred dollars, he could quash the
indictment against him. He is Radnor's brother and the Colonel's son,
but Rad is to receive a fortune while he is to be disinherited. The
money he asks now is only his right. If he receives it he will disappear
and trouble Rad no more.--That, I fancy, is the line of argument our
returned prodigal used. Anyway, he won Rad over. Radnor was thinking of
getting married, had plenty of use for all the money he could lay his
hands on, but he seems to be a generous chap, and he sacrificed himself.

"For obvious reasons Jeff wished his presence kept a secret, and Rad and
Mose respected his wishes. After the robbery Radnor was too sick at the
thought that his brother may have betrayed him, to want to do anything
but hush the matter up. At the news of the murder he did not know what
to think; he would not believe Jeff guilty, and yet he did not see any
other way out."

Terry paused a moment and leaned forward with an excited gleam in his
eye.

"That," he said, "is the whole truth about ghost number one. Our
business now is to track down number two, and here, as a starter are the
missing bonds."

He tossed a pile of mildewed papers on the bed and met my astonishment
with a triumphant chuckle.

It was true--all five of the missing bonds were there, the May first
coupons still uncut. Also the deeds and insurance policy, exactly as
they had left the safe, except that they were damp and mud-stained.

I stared for a moment too amazed to