We will pass 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.
Of course this made the widow and her son the richest people in the village. Ralph at once left off work, and took up his studies, and passed through Yale College with high honors. To-day he is the mayor of Westville, honored and loved by all who know him, and here we will leave him.