nkable.
He walked back slowly until he reached the lamp-post opposite her
house; finally, grinning, he folded his arms and leaned against it.
There he stood until a policeman came strolling along, some two hours
later. He stated the case and told the officer that if anything
happened to the house he would hold him responsible. The man was
inclined to be intensely suspicious until Clavering mentioned his
newspaper and followed the threat with a bill. Then he promised to
watch the house like a hawk, and Clavering, tired, stiff, and very
cold, went home to bed.

VIII

"Tommy rot. Don't believe a word of it. Mary's mother was one of the
Thornhills. Don't believe there ever was a Virginia branch. But I'll
soon find out. Also about this Josef Zattiany. That girl is Mary
Ogden's daughter."

They were seated in a corner of Mr. Dinwiddie's favorite club, where
they had met by appointment. Clavering shrugged his shoulders. He had
no intention of communicating his own doubts.

"But you'll dine there tonight?"

"Won't I? And I'll keep my ears open."

Clavering privately thought that the Countess Josef Zattiany would be
more than a match for him, but replied: "After all, what does it
matter? She is a beautiful and charming woman and no doubt you'll have
a very good dinner."

"That's all very well as far as it goes, but I've never been so
interested in my life. Of course if she's Mary's daughter I'll do
anything to befriend her--that is if she'll be honest enough to admit
it. But I don't like all this lying and pretence----"

"I think your terms are too strong. There have been extraordinary
resemblances before in the history of the world, 'doubles,' for
instance, where there was no known relationship. Rather remarkable
there are enough faces to go round. And she confesses to be of the
same family. At all events you must admit that she has not made use of
her alibi to force her way into society."

"Probably knows her alibi won't stand the strain. The women would soon
ferret out the truth. . . . What I'm afraid of is that she's got this
power of attorney out of Mary when the poor girl was too weak to
resist, and is over here to corral the entire fortune."

"But surely Judge Trent----"

"Oh, Trent! He's a fool where women are concerned. Always was, and
now he's got to the stage where he can't sit beside a girl without
pawing her. They won't have him in the house. Of course this lovely
creat