The Young Bridge-Tender Part 58

"But Ralph was my only child! And his father gone, too!" and Mrs. Nelson heaved a deep sigh, while the tears streamed down her cheeks anew.

The widow's sorrow was deep, and up to now she had not allowed herself to think of aught else. She was alone in the world, so she thought, and did not care how the future shaped itself.

Presently there was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Corcoran opened it to admit Squire Paget. The head man of the village wore a look of hypocritical sympathy upon his sharp features.

"I was just going over the bridge to Eastport," he explained, "and thought I would drop in for a neighborly chat."

Even in this simple statement he could not put a grain of truth. He had made a special trip to the cottage, and had come solely for his own selfish ends.

Mrs. Corcoran bid him welcome, and offered him a chair.

"I trust you do not let your sorrow rest too deeply upon you, widow," he went on, to Mrs. Nelson. "We all have our trials in this world," and he gave a grunt that was meant for a deep sigh.

"How can I help it, squire?" she replied. "Ralph was all the world to me."

"So was my late wife, widow, and yet I had to give her up;" and again he gave a grunt-like sigh.

This statement did not affect Mrs. Nelson greatly. She knew that it was a fact that the squire and his late wife had quarreled continually, and that many had said he had not cared at all when death had relieved him of her companionship.

"I was wondering what you intended to do," went on the squire, after an awkward pause. "Do you intend to stay here?"

"I do not know yet, squire."

"I should think you would want to change your surroundings. Does not everything in this cottage remind you of your late husband and late son?"

"Indeed it does!" cried Mrs. Nelson. "Sometimes I cannot bear it!"

"If I were you I would sell out and go elsewhere," suggested the squire, coming around to the subject that was on his mind. "Perhaps a little trip somewhere would do you a world of good."

"It would do her good," put in simple-minded Mrs. Corcoran, who believed the squire sincere.

"I cannot afford a trip," sighed Mrs. Nelson. "Besides--I--I--sometimes think that Ralph may come back," she faltered.

"Never, in this life, widow," returned the squire, solemnly. "Alas! the dead never return, no matter how much we love them."

"Sometimes they do, Squire Paget!" cried a young voice from the open doorway, and Ralph sprang into the room. "Mother!"

"Ralph, my son!" screamed Mrs. Nelson. "Thank Heaven for its many mercies!"

And she thew herself into Ralph's arms, while the tears of sorrow were quickly turned to tears of joy.

Squire Paget was dumbfounded. He stared at Ralph as if the boy was an apparition.

"Is it really you, Ralph?" he stammered at last.

"Sure, an' it is, Heaven bless him!" put in Mrs. Corcoran.

"And where have you been, Ralph?" cried Mrs. Nelson, when she could again speak.

"I have been in New York. You would have heard from me before had not that villain stolen the letter I sent."

"Villain, Ralph----"

"Yes, villain, mother. Squire Paget is the blackest-hearted wretch in Westville."

"What's this, and to me!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the squire.

"Yes, to you, Squire Paget, you mean, contemptible coward!" returned the boy, boldly. "Look at him, mother, and see him quail while I tell you of all he has done."

"I have done nothing," faltered the squire, but he looked as if he wished to sink through the floor.

"He hired two men to throw me over the cliff on Tree Top Island, and when they failed, he got one of the men to follow me to New York and try to put me out of existence there."

"Oh, Ralph, I cannot believe it!"

"It is all true, mother. Here is Mr. Kelsey, and he will tell you the same."

"This is preposterous----" began the squire, faintly, but Ralph cut him short.

"It is all true. The man who followed me to New York was Martin Thomas. He is now in jail and has confessed all."

The squire tottered as if struck a blow. He tried to speak, but the words would not come.

"And do you know why he did it?" went on Ralph. "He had the missing papers, and wished to get hold of our property here. But the missing papers we have found----"

"Found!"

The squire managed to gasp out the single word.

"Yes, found. They were in a registered letter sent by Squire Paget to some friend in New York. They were stolen by the post office thieves, who are now in custody. And, by the way, squire, shall I tell you who the thieves were? Dock Brady, a man named Ca.s.sidy, and a boy named Percy Paget."

It was a final and telling blow. The squire fell back, pale and trembling.

Ralph faced him dauntlessly, while the others stood around, holding their breath.

Squire Paget could not answer. He wanted to speak, but not a word would his tongue utter. He looked about for his silk hat, and, finding it, dashed out of the house as if a legion of demons were after him.

We will pa.s.s over the immediate scenes that followed. Mrs. Nelson could not let Ralph leave her side for the rest of the day, and Horace Kelsey undertook to follow the squire and bring him to terms.

But the exposure had been too much for Squire Paget. He disappeared that night, leaving his business affairs just as they were. It was not until a year afterward that he was heard from as living in an obscure state in a little town in Canada.

On the strength of his confession, Ralph did not appear against Martin Thomas, and the man got off with a very light sentence. Toglet took time by the forelock, and fled to the Southwest.

The post office robbers were all heavily punished, although Percy Paget, on account of his years, received a lighter sentence than his older companions.

It was not long before the papers which had been missing were turned over to Mrs. Nelson. Under Ralph's advice, the entire question of property was placed in Horace Kelsey's charge.

The insurance agent was not long in finding out what Squire Paget had intended to do with the land along the lake front. Part of it was to be turned over to a syndicate for a factory site, and the balance was to be cut up and sold as town lots. The plan was carried out later on for Mrs.

Nelson's benefit, and the sum of seventy thousand dollars was eventually realized out of the transaction.