Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/106

 more complicated. The thing for us to do is to cut the Gordian knot at once and bring matters to a climax."

"There is only one way to do it."

"Exactly. Arrest Cyrus Felton, and charge him with being the murderer of Roger Hathaway, or an accomplice before or after the act."

Barker picks up the revolver again.

"We have got a good deal of strong evidence against him," he says, slowly; "yet I should like to get the son in the same net. With the two of them jointly accused and jointly tried I am certain we could unravel the mystery. I have evidence against the elder Felton that I have not yet told you; in fact, what I consider as a sufficient motive for the crime. The absence of a good, healthy motive, you know, was the weak link in our chain.

"The president of those two banks, I am convinced, was short in his accounts with both institutions. In other words, he had used the bank's securities to tide over his own financial affairs, which I have discovered, were not in the flourishing condition supposed. Although he was aware that Felton's accounts were overdrawn, as was evidenced by the writing on the blotter, Hathaway was apparently ignorant of the fact that the president had taken many of the bank's securities and hypothecated them for his own account. That was done by the president through the connivance of his son, the bookkeeper. Get the idea?"

Ashley nods.

"Now then: You will recall that Cyrus Felton told you, after the murder, that nearly $50,000 in available cash and about half as much more in securities had been stolen. He testified at the inquest that some securities had been taken. My theory is that not one single one of those securities was taken from the bank that night. 'Cause why? Because they had previously been extracted by Cyrus Felton and his son. And the cash? That, I believe was Ralph Felton's share for his part in the tragedy. Perhaps father and son had planned for the latter to rob the bank that night—the former anxious for the covering up of the loss of the securities, the latter