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Oh, no, sir! your client is mistaken; the boy is not my son; I am sure he is not." Sharpman was rejoiced. Everything was working now exactly according to his plan. He thought it safe to push his scheme more rapidly. "But my client," he said, "appears to be perfectly sincere in his belief.
People were buying tickets and making their way hurriedly to the platform; but, among all those who came in and went out, Ralph could not discover the familiar face and figure of Sharpman, nor, indeed, could he see any one whom he knew. After the passengers had all gone out, the door-keeper called Ralph to him. "Find your man?" he asked. "Do you mean Mr. Sharpman?" "Yes." "No, he didn't come in.
Sharpman continued: "Now, the boy is a minor. He must have a guardian. The mother would be the guardian preferred by law; but if, for any reason, she should fail to recognize the boy as her son, some one else must be appointed.
Yet in that ruin was involved one of the boldest schemes for legal plunder that was ever carried into the courts of Luzerne County. Sharpman felt that a fortune had slipped from his grasp, and that he had lost it by reason of his own credulity and fear. He saw now the mistake he had made in not defying Rhyming Joe. He knew now that the fellow never would have dared to appear in court as a witness.
Finally Sharpman stopped. "Craft," he said, "I'll tell you what I'll do. If you will give me a power of attorney to hold and manage all the funds of the trust until the boy shall have attained his majority, I'll get the necessary bonds for you." Craft thought a moment. The proposition did not strike him favorably. "That would be putting the whole thing out of my hands into yours," he said.
"I do not think it is necessary," said Sharpman, courteously, "to pain the witness with other questions. I regard the identification of these articles, by her, as sufficiently complete. We will excuse her from further examination." The lady left the stand with bowed head and veiled face, and Conductor Merrick was recalled.
He asked many questions about it, about Craft, about Sharpman, about Ralph's knowledge of himself; the whole ground, indeed, was gone over carefully from the beginning to the present; even the probabilities of the future were fully discussed.
He had failed to find Rhyming Joe, he had failed to find Lawyer Sharpman. The early morning train would carry both of them beyond his reach. Suppose it should? Suppose the case at Wilkesbarre should go on to its predicted end, and the jury should bring in their expected verdict, what then?
Sharpman says that Robert Burnham was my father and and he's dead." The judge looked down at the lad somewhat uncertainly, then he said: "Well, Ralph, that will do; we'll make the appointment, but," turning to Sharpman, "we shall watch this matter closely. We shall see that justice is done to the child in any event." "It is my earnest wish," responded Sharpman, "that your Honor shall do so.
"Well, never mind that," interrupted Sharpman; "when did you next see the boy?" "Never till I pickit 'im up o' the road." "And when was that?" "It'll be three year come the middle o' June. I canna tell ye the day." "On what road was it?" "I'll tell ye how it cam' aboot. It was the mornin' after the circus.
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