"Eh?" says I. "Where the blazes are you?"

"Tullington," says he.

"Oh!" says I. "Still there, are you? Found Pedders?"

"Ye-e-es," says he; "but I am completely at a loss to know what to do for him. I say, McCabe, couldn"t you run up here? It"s a curious situation, and I--well, I need your advice badly. There"s a train at eleven-thirty that connects at Danbury. Couldn"t you?"

Well, I hadn"t figured on bein" any travelin" inspector when I took this executor job; but as J. Bayard sends out the S O S so strong I can"t very well duck. Besides, I might have been a little int"rested to know what he"d dug up.

So about three-fifteen that afternoon finds me pilin" off a branch accommodation at Tullington. Mr. Steele is waitin" on the platform to meet me, silk lid and all.

"What about Pedders?" says I.

"I want you to see him first," says J. Bayard.

"On exhibition, is he?" says I.

"In a town of this size," says he, "everyone is on exhibition continuously. It"s the penalty one pays for being rural, I suppose.

I"ve been here only two days; but I"ll venture to say that most of the inhabitants know me by name and have made their guess as to what my business here may be. It"s the most pitiless kind of publicity I ever experienced. But come on up to the postoffice, and I"ll show you Pedders."

"Fixture there, is he?" says I.

"Twice a day he comes for the mail," says J. Bayard. "Your train brought it up. He"ll be on hand."

So we strolls up Main street from the station, while Steele points out the bra.s.s works, the carpet mill, the opera house, and Judge Hanks"

slate-roofed mansion. It sure is a jay burg, but a lively one. Oh, yes!

Why, the Ladies" Aid Society was holdin" a cake sale in a vacant store next to the Bijou movie show, and everybody was decoratin" for a firemen"s parade to be pulled off next Sat.u.r.day. We struck the postoffice just as they brought the mail sacks up in a pushcart and dragged "em in through the front door.

"There he is," says Steele, nudgin" me, "over in the corner by the writing shelf!"

What he points out is a long-haired, gray-whiskered old guy, with a faded overcoat slung over his shoulders like a cape, and an old slouch hat pulled down over his eyes. He"s standin" there as still and quiet as if his feet was stuck to the floor.

"Kind of a seedy old party, eh?" says I.

"Why not?" says J. Bayard. "He"s an ex-jailbird."

"You don"t say!" says I. "What brand?"

"Absconder," says he. "Got away with a hundred and fifty thousand from the local bank."

"Well, well!" says I. "Didn"t spend it dollin" himself up, did he?"

"Oh, all that happened twenty years ago," says Steele. "The odd part of it is, though---- But come over to the hotel, where I can tell you the whole story."

And, say, he had a tale, all right. Seems Pedders had been one of the leadin" citizens,--cashier of the bank, pillar of the church, member of the town council, and all that,--with a wife who was a social fav"rite, and a girl that promised to be a beauty when she grew up. The Pedders never tried to cut any gash, though. They lived simple and respectable and happy. About the only wild plunge the neighbors ever laid up against him was when he paid out ten dollars once for some imported tulip bulbs.

Then all of a sudden it was discovered that a bunch of negotiable securities had disappeared from the bank vaults. The arrow pointed straight to Pedders. He denied; but he couldn"t explain. He just shut up like a clam, and let "em do their worst. He got ten years. Before he was put away they tried to make him confess, or give "em some hint as to what he"d done with the bonds. But there was nothin" doin" in that line. He just stood pat and took his medicine.

Bein" a quiet prisoner, that gave no trouble and kept his cell tidy, he scaled it down a couple of years. n.o.body looked for him to come back to Tullington after he got loose. They all had it doped out that he"d salted away that hundred and fifty thousand somewhere, and would proceed to dig it up and enjoy it where he wa"n"t known.

But Pedders fooled "em again. Straight back from the bars he come, back to Tullington and the little white story-and-a-half cottage on a side street, where Mrs. Pedders and Luella was waitin" for him.

She"d had some hand-to-hand tussle meanwhile, Mrs. Pedders had; but she"d stuck it out n.o.ble. At the start about nine out of ten of her neighbors and kind friends was dead sure she knew where that bunch of securities was stowed, and some of "em didn"t make any bones of sayin"

she ought to be in jail along with Pedders. So of course that made it nice and comfy for her all around. But she opened up a little millinery shop in her front parlor, and put up jams and jellies, and raised a few violets under a window sash in the back yard. She didn"t quite starve that first year or so; though n.o.body knew just how close she shaved it.

And in time even them that had been her closest friends begun to be sorry for her.

When Pedders showed up again all the old stories was hashed over, and the whole of Tullington held its breath watchin" for some sign that he"s dug up his hank loot. But it didn"t come. Pedders just camped down silent in his old home and let his whiskers grow. Twice a day he made reg"lar trips back and forth from the postoffice, lookin" at n.o.body, speakin" to n.o.body. Mrs. Pedders held her usual fall and spring openin"s of freak millinery, while Luella taught in the fourth grade of the grammar school and gave a few piano lessons on the side. They didn"t act like a fam"ly that had buried treasure.

But what had he done with that hundred and fifty thousand? How could he have blown so much without even acquirin" a toddy blossom? Or had he scattered it in the good old way, buckin" Wall Street? But he"d never seemed like that kind. No, they didn"t think he had the nerve to take a chance on a turkey raffle. So that left the mystery deeper"n ever.

"No chance of him bein" not guilty to begin with, eh?" I suggests.

J. Bayard smiles cynical. "So far as I am able to learn," says he, "there is just one person, aside from Mrs. Pedders and her daughter, who believes him innocent. Strangely enough too, that"s Norris, who was teller at the time. He"s president of the bank now. I had a talk with him this morning. He insists that Pedders was too honest to touch a dollar; says he knew him too well. But he offers no explanation as to where the securities went. So there you are! Everyone else regards him as a convicted thief, who scarcely got his just deserts. He"s a social outcast, and a broken, spiritless wretch besides. How can I do anything kind and generous for such a man?"

Well, I didn"t know any more"n he did. "What gets me," I goes on, "is how he ever come to be mixed up with Pyramid Gordon. Got that traced out?"

"I sounded Norris on that point," says Steele; "but he"d never heard of Gordon"s having been in Tullington, and was sure Pedders didn"t know him."

"Then you ain"t had a talk with Pedders himself?" says I.

"Why, no," says J. Bayard, shruggin" his shoulders scornful. "The poor devil! I didn"t see what good it would do--an ex-convict, and----"

"You can"t always be dealin" with Twombley-Cranes," I breaks in. "And it"s Pedders you"re after this trip. Come on. Let"s go tackle him."

"What! Now?" says Steele, liftin" his eyebrows.

"Ah, you ain"t plannin" to spend the summer here, are you?" says I.

"Besides, it"ll do you good to learn not to shy at a man just because he"s done time. Show us the house."

I could have put it even stronger to him, if I"d wanted to rub it in.

Had about as much sympathy for a down-and-out, Steele did, as you"d find milk in a turnip. You should see the finicky airs he puts on as he follows me into the Pedders cottage, and sniffs at the worn, old-fashioned furniture in the sittin" room.

It"s Mrs. Pedders that comes in from the shop to greet us. Must have been quite a good looker once, from the fine face and the still slim figure. But her hair has been frosted up pretty well, and there"s plenty of trouble lines around the eyes. No, we couldn"t see Mr. Pedders. She was sorry, but he didn"t see anyone. If there was any business, perhaps she could----

"Maybe you can," says I; "although it ain"t exactly business, either.

It"s a delayed boost we"re agents for; friendly, and all that."

"I--I don"t believe I understand," says she.

"We"ll get to that later on," says I, "if you"ll take our word and help.

What we"re tryin" to get a line on first off is where and how Mr.

Pedders run against Pyramid Gordon."

"Gordon?" says she. "I don"t think I ever heard him mention the name."

"Think "way back, then," says I, "back before he was--before he had his trouble."

She tried, but couldn"t dig it up. We was still on the subject when in floats Daughter. She"s one of these nice, sweet, sensible lookin" girls, almost vergin" on the old maid. She"d just come home from her school.

The case was explained to her; but she don"t remember hearin" the name either.