Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/78

 8:30 on the evening of Memorial Day. It would account for the carrying off of the cashier's revolver and its subsequent burial among the waters of Wild River; for young Felton's flight, and for the extreme agitation of the elder Felton ever since the night of the killing."

"And," adds Barker, "it would satisfactorily clear up the interim of fifteen minutes between the time Cyrus Felton should have reached the bank and the moment when the sheriff was notified. In fact, if the Felton family is responsible for the death of Roger Hathaway there must be some understanding between father and son. But we will now proceed to the consideration of an important character in our tragedy—Ernest Stanley.

"Two years ago, while the directors of the Raymond National Bank were holding their annual meeting, the teller stepped into the room and announced that a stranger had presented at the bank for payment a check for $1,000, signed by Cyrus Felton.

"'Impossible!' exclaimed that individual, who was presiding over the directors' meeting. 'Let me see the check.' The teller produced it, and Felton at once declared it a forgery, and a bungling one at that. An officer was quickly summoned and Ernest Stanley, who had presented the check, was arrested.

"His trial in the Mansfield County Court was short. The forgery was proved and the young man was sentenced to three years in the state prison at Windsor. In his own defense—he had no money with which to employ a lawyer—Stanley stated that the check had been given to him two days before he presented it, by a casual acquaintance who claimed the name signed to the bit of paper. It was in payment of a gambling debt and the transaction occurred in Phil Clark's well-known lair of the tiger on Fifth Avenue, New York."

"Which, by the way, is no more," puts in Ashley. "The place was closed out six months ago and Phil is now in 'Frisco."

"It was in existence during Stanley's trial," resumes Barker, "and the trial was adjourned a couple of days while his improbable story was looked up. As was