"It was true," said Harding doggedly. "Where were the rest?" asked Bert, pointedly. "How should I know? Your father had them secreted somewhere, I suppose." "You know better than that. My father was innocent. He knew nothing of the bonds. An enemy plotted to get him into trouble." "Do you charge me with being that enemy?" demanded Harding. "You had something to do with it, but you were the instrument of another." "How do you know that?" admitted Harding, incautiously. "Shall I tell you the name of that other?" "Yes." "It is Albert Marlowe." Ralph Harding started in surprise. "Does he admit it?" he asked, after a pause. "No; he does not know that it is suspected. I want you to back me up in the demand that he clear my father from suspicion." "He will never do it. How could he, without criminating himself?" "Whatever be the result, my father's character must be cleared." "Tell me, is your father still living?" asked Ralph Harding, earnestly. "Yes, he is." "Have you seen him?" "Yes. Poor father, he has suffered much. He has been separated from my mother and myself these many years, and has not dared to show himself at his old home, or among his old friends, because he was liable to be arrested on the old charge." Ralph was looking down upon the floor, and his features were working convulsively. Bert guessed what was passing through his mind, and paused to give him time. He looked up after a while, and asked: "What would you have me do?" "Testify to what you know. It will clear my father, and he can come home once more." "But it will condemn Albert Marlowe." "Why not let it? He is the guilty man. Have you so much reason to like Albert Marlowe that you will not do this act of justice?" "No!" Ralph Harding burst out, and his face wore an expression of resentment. "He has used me like a dog. It was through me that he became a rich man, and in return he has treated me with contempt and indifference. If I dared----" "You would expose him?" "Yes, I would. It is of no use to deny what you have said. Your father is an innocent man. The bonds were stolen by Albert Marlowe." Bert looked triumphant. He had wrung the truth from the accomplice of Squire Marlowe. "How did you find me?" asked Harding, abruptly. "How did you know I was in Chicago?" "I was told so by your sister." "Have you been in Peoria, then?" asked Harding, in great surprise. "Yes; I was there last week." "But how did you find out that I had a sister?" "At Harrisburg. You left a letter from your sister at your boarding-house there, which gave me the clew I wanted." "And how did you trace me to Harrisburg?" Bert explained. "And you defrayed your own expenses? I thought you and your mother were left in poverty." "So we were; but an uncle of my mother's recently returned from California, and it is he who has supplied me with the funds needed for my journey." "Then he is wealthy?"