Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/85

 have taken their seats near the open window she answers:

"You will return? Your work here on—on the case is not yet finished?"

"No; we shall have occasion to visit Raymond more than once before the mystery which shrouds the bank case is dispelled. It is going to be a long chase, I fear, Miss Hathaway. But I hope to come to you some day and tell you of its successful end."

"I hope so," she replies dreamily, her thoughts far away.

"You have heard nothing more from your sister?"

"Nothing." Her look is frank.

"I can tell you nothing of our plans," says Ashley, "further than that our principal endeavor will be to discover Ernest Stanley."

"Ernest Stanley?" repeats Miss Hathaway. "Oh, the young man who was pardoned from State prison on Memorial Day. Do you think he committed the crime?"

"Frankly, no. But we believe that he knows something of its perpetration. In other words, we regard him as the key to the mystery."

"And Derrick Ames?" questions Miss Hathaway, with the anxious expression of yesterday in her gaze.

"Derrick Ames must be found, also. If you could give me any information"

"I can tell you nothing," she replies hurriedly.

"Ralph Felton is another absentee whose presence is earnestly desired," he resumes.

"You say you do not believe that Stanley is the guilty man. Does it, then, lie between Ralph Felton and"

"And Derrick Ames?" finishes Ashley. "Not necessarily. There is another, but for excellent reasons I should prefer not to mention the name. Have you any plans for the future?"

"No definite plans. Mr. Cyrus Felton has been appointed executor of the estate and after that has been settled I shall probably make my home at his house."

"At Cyrus Felton's?" murmurs Ashley, in such a peculiar voice that Miss Hathaway looks at him in surprise.