“Yes. But—”
“Wait! Ain’t it customary, when a sale like this is made, to turn over all the stock, certificates and all? Sometimes you get stock in the new company in exchange; I know that. But to complete the trade, wouldn’t this extry hundred shares be turned in? Or some sharp questionin’ done if ’twa’n’t?”
He addressed the query to Sylvester. The latter seemed more troubled than before.
“That,” he said with some hesitation, “is one of the delicate points in this talk of ours, Captain Warren. A certificate for the missing hundred shares was turned in. It was dated at the time of the original issue, made out in the name of one Edward Bradley, and transferred on the back by him to your brother. That is, it was presumably so transferred.”
“Presumably. Pre-sumably? You mean—?”
“I mean that this certificate is—well, let us say, rather queer. To begin with, no one knows who this Bradley is, or was. His name appears nowhere except on that certificate, unless, of course, it did appear on the stub where the scratching has been done; we doubt that, for reasons. Nobody ever heard of the man; and his transfer to your brother was made, and the certificate signed by him, only three years ago, when the Akrae Company sold out. It will take too long to go into details; but thanks to the kindness of the Para concern, which has offices in this city—we have been able to examine this Bradley certificate. Experts have examined it, also. And they tell us—”
He paused.
“Well, what do they tell?” demanded the captain.
“They tell us that—that, in their opinion, the certificate was never issued at the time when, by this date, it presumes to have been. It was made out no longer ago than five years, probably less. The signature of Bradley on the back is—is—well, I hate to say it, Captain Warren, but the handwriting on that signature resembles very closely that of your brother.”
Captain Elisha was silent for some moments. The others did not speak, but waited. Even Graves, between whom and his client there was little in common, felt the general sympathy.