ything he could lay his
hands on; is that it? But I don't quite see why the authorities here,
knowing of her divorce from him, would permit him to take possession of
her effects, from any ownership in which the courts had barred him."

"I don't suppose the people here knew anything about it, for she says in
this paper that she got her divorce secretly, and that there was no
publicity about it. She simply had her lawyers notify Mowbray to that
effect, at which time she sent him ten thousand dollars in settlement of
all claims against her, which he agreed to accept with that
understanding. But later he wrote her a letter in which he said that the
agreement meant nothing to him, and that he would expect more."

"But why didn't she make the fact that he was no longer her husband
public? It would have saved this trouble."

"She didn't want the news of it to travel to our parents in England.
That was her pride."

"I see. Does she leave him anything in her will?"

"Yes. Her will is a curious document. It was evidently made immediately
after her divorce from Mowbray, and leaves all her property to our
mother, and, after her death, to my brother and myself, with a small
bequest to silence Mowbray. But there is a codicil which leads me to
believe that she had heard of mother's death, in which event she leaves
almost everything to her brother, Frederic Caruthers. He is the one
known as Fancy Farnsworth."

"Nothing to you?"

"Oh, yes, but not so much as to Fred, whom she puts in my care, asking
me to see that he is properly treated and that he gets the justice which
is his due."

"Evidently she knew, then, that he has many enemies who were trying to
put him within the clutches of the law."

"Evidently. But there is a section which I do not understand."

"Read it. Perhaps we can figure it out between us."

"All right, I will. The paragraph is as follows: 'I desire that my elder
brother, John Stairs Caruthers, shall take charge of my property in the
event that the said Frederic Caruthers shall not be present when my will
is opened, and that he shall be found as speedily as possible. For
several years Frederic Caruthers has been my only protector, defending
me from the abuse and greed of my former husband, and, further,
sustaining my credit and honor by assuming the misdeeds of Mowbray, to
his own discredit and danger. Had it not been for his watchful care, I
would long ago have been stripped of all I have been able to ac