Page:The achievements of Luther Trant - Balmer and MacHarg - 1910.djvu/53

Rh fice it that he did raise them and stole one hundred thousand dollars. When the notes were presented for payment, the matter was laid before you. You must have promised Dr. Lawrie to make up the loss, for he paid the notes and entered the payment in his books. Then the time came when the books must be presented for audit. Lawrie wrote that last appeal to you to put off the settlement no longer. But before the letter was delivered you and Mrs. Branower had hurried off to Elgin to see this Harrison, who was hurt. You got back Sunday evening and read Dr. Lawrie's note. You went to him; and, unable to make payment, there in his office you struck him dead—"

But Branower was upon him with a harsh cry.

"You devil! You—devil! But you lie! I did not kill him!"

"With a blow? Oh, no! You raised no hand against him. But his heart was weak. At your refusal to carry out your promise, which meant his ruin, he collapsed before you—dead. Do you wish to continue the statement now yourself?"

The wife gathered herself. "It is not so! No!" she forbade, "no!" But Branower turned on President Joslyn a haggard face.

"Is this true?" the president demanded sternly. Branower buried his face in his hands.

"I will tell you all," he said thickly. "Harrison, as this fellow found out somehow, is my wife's brother. He has always been reckless, wild; but she—Cora, do not stop me now—loved him and clung to him as—as a sister sometimes clings to such a brother. They were alone in the world, Joslyn. She married me only