"
"It is as I expected," said Bertram, wiping his heated brow on the
window curtain. "You have been reading books."
"Besides that," continued Gladys, ignoring the deadly charge, "you have
no money."
The blood of the Snoopers rose hastily and mantled the cheek of Bertram
D. He put on his coat and moved proudly to the door.
"Stay here till I return," he said, "I will be back in fifteen years."
When he had finished speaking he ceased and left the room.
When he had gone, Gladys felt an uncontrollable yearning take possession
of her. She said slowly, rather to herself than for publication, "I
wonder if there was any of that cold cabbage left from dinner."
She then left the room.
When she did so, a dark-complexioned man with black hair and gloomy,
desperate looking clothes, came out of the fireplace where he had been
concealed and stated:
"Aha! I have you in my power at last, Bertram D. Snooper. Gladys
Vavasour-Smith shall be mine. I am in the possession of secrets that
not a soul in the world suspects. I have papers to prove that Bertram
Snooper is the heir to the Tom Bean estate, [12] and I have discovered
that Gladys' grandfather who sawed wood for the Hornsby's was also a
cook in Major Rhoads Fisher's command during the war.
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