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Updated: June 26, 2025
He had already offended Mary Bransford more than he had a right to, and to destroy her brother's letter would be positively heinous. Besides, unknown to him, there might be more letters about with Will Bransford's signature on them, and it might be well to preserve this particular letter in case he should be called upon to forge Will Bransford's signature.
But he would not; he would not have her think he had been examining her letters. One thing he could do without confessing that he had been prying and he did it. At dinner he remarked casually to Mary: "I reckon you don't think enough of my letters put them away as keepsakes?" "Sanderson's or Bransford's?" she returned, looking at him with a smile. "Both," he grinned.
"Look here!" he suddenly said. But Sanderson did not turn. Silverthorn rattled a paper. "Here's a withdrawal slip on the Okar bank, calling for three thousand two hundred dollars, signed by Will Bransford. Barney Owen drew the money last night and blew it in gambling and drinking. He says he's been signing Bransford's name forging it at your orders.
"Well," he said, "that name-signing deal sure had me considerable fussed up." He told Owen of his mental torture following the discovery of the letter that had disappeared from the dresser drawer. "We've got to run together from now on," he told Owen. "I'll be Bransford an' you'll be Bransford's name. Mebbe between us we'll make a whole man." Over at the Bar D, Dale was scowling at Silverthorn.
He had persisted in that thought until after the finding of the letters in William Bransford's pockets; and then, staring down at the man's face, he had realized that he had been deluding himself, and, that he was journeying northeastward merely because he was curious to see the girl whom the Drifter had so vividly described.
During the elder Bransford's last days, and for a year or more preceding the day of Bransford's death, Dale had professed friendship for him. The pretense of friendship had resulted profitably for Dale, for it had enabled him to establish an intimacy with Bransford which had made it possible for Dale to learn much of Bransford's personal affairs.
"That country's goin' to blossom!" declared the Drifter. "An' the guy which gets in on the ground floor is goin' to make a clean-up! They's a range there the Double A which is right in the middle of things. A guy named Bransford owns her an' Bransford's on his last legs. He's due to pass out pronto, or I'm a gopher! He's got a daughter there Mary which is a pippin, an' no mistake!
"That's the reason you was so willin' to sign all the papers that wanted Will Bransford's signature. I sure was a boxhead for not tumblin' to that." He laughed, meeting Mary's gaze and holding it. "Talkin' of throwin' up the deal," he said. "That couldn't be. Dale an' Silverthorn an' Maison an' their gang of cutthroats couldn't make me give it up. There's only one person could make me do that.
He had meant to hang Nyland, take possession of his property, and force Peggy to accept whatever conditions he cared to impose upon her. The unlooked-for appearance of Mary Bransford's brother had disturbed his plans. As a matter of fact, the coming of Bill Bransford would make it necessary for Dale to make entirely new plans. Dale was puzzled.
But he reached into a pocket, drew out the two letters he had taken from the real Bransford's pocket, and passed them back to Mary Bransford, still facing Dale. He grinned at Dale's face as the latter watched Mary while she read the letters, gathering from the scowl that swept over the other's lips that Mary had accepted them as proof of his identity.
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