"I told him that that was impossible, as I did not have the five hundred dollars. Finally he told me how sorry he felt for me and how anxious he was to keep me out of the penitentiary and that he would pay the other five hundred and give me two hundred dollars to leave on. He then gave me some good advice as to my future conduct. I was perfectly innocent, but I had no friend in the West, except Mr. Babcock, and he had been injured in an auto accident that afternoon and his life was despaired of. In my excited imagination I saw the cold stern walls of the penitentiary loom before me. I accepted Stover's offer. (During this recital Harold listened intently and occasionally made notes.)
"That night I left Zala on the midnight train. I went to Trinidad, Colorado, and remained there for two months. I did not find a job that suited me there and decided to come farther west. I had not been on the train long when I noticed a pretty girl a few seats behind me. After several hours of loneliness I changed my seat directly across the aisle from her and engaged her in conversation. She told me that her name was Irene Hinds. She was from Indiana. She was on her way here to join her father. She told me that her father was tubercular and had come to Arizona for his health, two months previous. Before that he had spent several months in the Middle West but had not improved much.
"I became much interested in Irene and decided to change my destination and try to find employment here, where she was to make her home with her father. I secured employment the day I landed, as bookkeeper in this office. After I had been here a few days I asked permission to call on Miss Hinds. Imagine the shock which I received when she introduced me to her father, whom I recognized at once as Finch, the bank examiner. I was sure he recognized me, but he said nothing about our having met before. I was alarmed and at the same time curious as to why he was here passing under the name of Hinds. I was sure there was something wrong in his life or he would have forbidden his daughter to associate with me, whom he knew as a defaulter. Finally he did object when it became evident to him that Irene and I were in love. After a short courtship we were married against his wishes. The night we were married he was very much agitated during the early part of the evening. When the minister and our young friends had left he made a confession to us. He said he had been for several months a guest in the Stover home at the time Babcock made the transfer of stock to Stover and Stover took charge of the Ranchmen's Bank at Zala. My father-in-law, John Hinds, is a cousin of Jim Stover. He was for many years a bookkeeper for a firm in Indianapolis. He is a professional penman. For several years he fought against tuberculosis but continued to work. Finally the doctors told him that if he expected to live any length of time he must go West. He went to Stover at Wilford Springs. After several months there the doctors told him that he should come to Arizona. He was without funds.
"The day that Stover took charge of the Ranchmen's Bank in Zala he 'phoned to his cousin to come down. When he arrived Stover told him if he would do a little job for him he would give him a thousand dollars with which to go to Arizona to recover his health. After much persuasion and the painting of several graveyard scenes by Stover he consented. He impersonated the bank examiner, forged the note, and made the false entries in the books, imitating my writing.
"On our wedding night he insisted that he go back and expose his cousin so that I could clear my name and recover the value of my bank stock out of which Stover had defrauded me. As I thought I was the only one wronged, Irene and myself refused to allow him to do so. I am sure that he would never have done what he did, Mr. King, if he had not thought it was to save his life.
"I never knew until you told me this evening that Stover had robbed Babcock. I talked the matter over with Irene, and while of course it is a hard thing for a woman to consent to her father's taking a course of action which will send him to the penitentiary, and I never would have brought this anguish to her on my own account, yet she agreed with me it must be done."
"Have you talked to your father-in-law?"
"No. He wasn't so well as usual today, and we thought we would wait until the sun is shining when he is sure to be feeling better."
"Will he be willing to waive extradition?"
"I am sure he will. He has always told Irene and myself that he must go sometime and do what he could to right the wrong he had committed against me.