The past was blotted. Graham’s two enemies, Wolf Daggert and Carma Urstead, were dead. Harwin Dowser no longer lived. The only persons who knew the truth were those who had heard it from Graham’s own lips: Ralph Delkin and Eunice.
Two mobsters, discovered bound in Dowser’s cellar, proved useful witnesses. They identified the false vigilantes as their pals. They were glad to have escaped the slaughter that had come to their evil companions.
The captured pair of gangsters said that they and their fellows had been paid to come to Southwark and follow orders. They knew Wolf Daggert as a smart Manhattan crook. They knew nothing of Graham Wellerton.
THERE was an element of shrouded mystery that perplexed those who had taken part in the affair. Some unseen personage had fought for the right that night. Graham Wellerton was convinced that he knew the identity of the hidden being.
The Shadow had obtained Carma Urstead’s real marriage license. He had brought it to Southwark, to substitute it for the false document which Carma had given to Harwin Dowser.
The Shadow, Graham was sure, was the one who had trapped the two gangsters in the cellar. His hand had released Eunice Delkin; the same hand had been ready for the final fray.
Snarling mobsters had fallen before The Shadow’s might. The master fighter had driven back the false vigilantes, and they had gone down in battle vainly trying to overcome his attack.
To Graham Wellerton, the presence of The Shadow seemed miraculous. Considering it, the young man realized that The Shadow had granted him powerful aid because Graham had chosen the straight road in preference to the path of crime which he had left.
EVENTS in Southwark had their sequel in Manhattan. On a certain night, some weeks after the struggle at Dowser’s, a click sounded in a darkened room. Weird bluish light threw wavering rays upon the surface of a polished table. Into the realm of illumination crept two uncanny hands; living creatures that came from darkness.
The resplendent girasol caught the flickering rays from the light, and threw them back with sparkling iridescence. The glorious jewel told the identity of the man who wore it; the eerie light named the place.
The Shadow was in his sanctum.
From an envelope, long fingers drew forth clippings and dropped them on the table. Unseen eyes studied the printed lines. These items were of varied import. The first ones which The Shadow read told of restitutions.
Bankers in New York and other cities had been the recipients of funds from unknown sources. Anonymous notes had told them that these moneys were replacements for cash and securities which had been stolen.
A single clipping spoke of another matter. It had been cut from the little Southwark daily, and it told of an important event in the Mid-Western town. Eunice Delkin had become the bride of Graham Wellerton.
The light clicked out. A soft laugh shuddered through the darkened room.
The Shadow had departed from his sanctum. He had voiced his satisfaction over the final events that marked the real beginning of Graham Wellerton’s new career.
The gentleman of crime had rejected the road of evil to take the path of right. His way was clear; opened by The Shadow. The secret of Graham Wellerton’s past would never be known.
For the facts of the young man’s forgotten past were recorded only in the secret archives of The Shadow — those massive tomes which, like The Shadow’s identity itself, would never be discovered!