The
man stepped toward the car, shaking his head.
“Oh, no, Miss Prim,” he said, “I can’t do that. Here’s
your ‘swag.’” And he smiled as he passed over her jewels and money.
Mr. Prim’s eyes widened; he looked suspiciously at
Bridge. Abigail laughed merrily. “I stole them myself, Dad,” she explained,
“and then Mr. Bridge took them from me in the jail to make the mob think
he had stolen them and not I — he didn’t know then that I was a girl, did
you?”
“It was in the jail that I first guessed; but I didn’t
quite realize who you were until you said that the jewels were yours
— then I knew. The picture in the paper gave me the first inkling that
you were a girl, for you looked so much like the one of Miss Prim. Then
I commenced to recall little things, until I wondered that I hadn’t known
from the first that you were a girl; but you made a bully boy!” and they
both laughed. “And now good-by, and may God bless you!” His voice trembled
ever so little, and he extended his hand. The girl drew back.
“I want you to come with us,” she said. “I want Father
to know you and to know how you have cared for me. Wont you come — for
me?”
“I couldn’t refuse, if you put it that way,” replied
Bridge; and he climbed into the car. As the machine started off a boy leaped
to the running-board.
“Hey!” he yelled, “where’s my reward? I want my reward.
I’m Willie Case.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Bridge. “I gave your reward to your
father — maybe he’ll split it with you. Go ask him.” And the car moved
off.
“You see,” said Burton, with a wry smile, “how simple
is the detective’s job. Willie is a natural-born detective. He got everything
wrong from A to Izzard, yet if it hadn’t been for Willie we might not have
cleared up the mystery so soon.”
“It isn’t all cleared up yet,” said Jonas Prim. “Who
murdered Baggs?”
“Two yeggs known as Dopey Charlie and the General,”
replied Burton. “They are in the jail at Oakdale; but they don’t
know yet that I know they are guilty. They think they are being held merely
as suspects in the case of your daughter’s disappearance, whereas I have
known since morning that they were implicated in the killing of Baggs;
for after I got them in the car I went behind the bushes where we discovered
them and dug up everything that was missing from Baggs’ house, as nearly
as is known — currency, gold and bonds.”
“Good!” exclaimed Mr. Prim.
On the trip back to Oakdale, Abigail Prim cuddled in
the back seat beside her father, told him all that she could think to tell
of Bridge and his goodness to her.
“But the man didn’t know you were a girl,” suggested
Mr. Prim.
“There were two other girls with us, both very pretty,”
replied Abigail, “and he was as courteous and kindly to them as a man could
be to a woman. I don’t care anything about his clothes, Daddy; Bridge is
a gentleman born and raised-anyone could tell it after half an hour with
him.”
Bridge sat on the front seat with the driver and one
of Burton’s men, while Burton, sitting in the back seat next to the girl,
could not but overhear her conversation.
“You are right,” he said. “Bridge, as you call him,
is a gentleman. He comes of one of the finest families of Virginia and
one of the wealthiest. You need have no hesitancy, Mr. Prim, in inviting
him into your home.”
For a while the three sat in silence; and then Jonas
Prim turned to his daughter. “Gail,” he said, “before we get home I wish
you’d tell me why you did this thing. I think you’d rather tell me before
we see Mrs. P.”
“It was Sam Benham, Daddy,” whispered the girl. “I
couldn’t marry him. I’d rather die, and so I ran away. I was going to be
a tramp; but I had no idea a tramp’s existence was so adventurous. You
won’t make me marry him, Daddy, will you? I wouldn’t be happy, Daddy.”
“I should say not, Gail; you can be an old maid all
your life if you want to.”
“But I don’t want to — I only want to choose my own
husband,” replied Abigail.
Mrs. Prim met them all in the living-room. At sight
of Abigail in the ill-fitting man’s clothing she raised her hands in holy
horror; but she couldn’t see Bridge at all, until Burton found an opportunity
to draw her to one side and whisper something in her ear, after which she
was graciousness personified to the dusky Bridge, insisting that he spend
a fortnight with them to recuperate.
Between them, Burton and Jonas Prim fitted Bridge out
as he had not been dressed in years, and with the feel of fresh linen and
pressed clothing, even if ill fitting, a sensation of comfort and ease
pervaded him which the man would not have thought possible from such a
source an hour before.
He smiled ruefully as Burton looked him over. “I venture
to say,” he drawled, “that there are other things in the world besides
the open road.”
Burton smiled.
It was midnight when the Prims and their guests arose
from the table. Hettie Penning was with them, and everyone present had
been sworn to secrecy about her share in the tragedy of the previous night.
On the morrow she would return to Payson and no one there the wiser; but
first she had Burton send to the jail for Giova, who was being held as
a witness, and Giova promised to come and work for the Pennings.
At last Bridge stole a few minutes alone with Abigail,
or, to be more strictly a truthful historian, Abigail outgeneraled the
others of the company and drew Bridge out upon the veranda.
“Tell me,” demanded the girl, “why you were so kind
to me when you thought me a worthless little scamp of a boy who had robbed
some one’s home.”
“I couldn’t have told you a few hours ago,” said Bridge.
“I used to wonder myself why I should feel toward a boy as I felt
toward you, — it was inexplicable, — and then when I knew that you were
a girl, I understood, for I knew that I loved you and had loved you from
the moment that we met there in the dark and the rain beside the Road to
Anywhere.”
“Isn’t it wonderful?” murmured the girl, and she had
other things in her heart to murmur; but a man’s lips smothered hers as
Bridge gathered her into his arms and strained her to him.
UNAUTHORIZED and POD EDITIONS
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"The
Oakdale Affair" is a mystery play made for the average theatre patron.
It affords real entertainment. There is not a heavy or dull moment
in the picture. The action is rapid and filled with that fast-moving
punch that gets an audience right at the start and holds them tense all
the time the picture is being screened!
