ce, though Miss Maria stretched out her hand to Mary. Mary
stared at it but made no move to take it.

"Your records look as if they might be correct," said Mr. Clark, an
admission greeted by Hapgood with a pleased smile and a complacent rub
of the hands; "but," went on the old gentleman, "I see nothing here that
would prove that this Emily Leonard was our cousin."

"But your nephew, Stanley, wrote you that he had found that your Emily
had removed to the neighborhood of Pittsburg."

"That's true," acknowledged the elder man, bending his head, "but Emily
Leonard isn't an unusual name."

"O, she's the one all right," insisted Hapgood bluffly.

"Further, your record doesn't state the names of this Emily Leonard's
parents."

Hapgood tossed back the unruly lock of hair.

"I ought to have gone back one step farther," he conceded. "I might have
known you'd ask that."

"Naturally."

"I'll send to the county clerk and get that straightened out."

"It might be well," advised Mr. Clark mildly. "One other point prevents
my acceptance of these documents as proof that your niece belongs to our
family. Neither the investigator whom we had working on the case nor my
nephew have ever told us the date of birth of our Emily Leonard. We can,
of course, obtain that, if it is not already in my nephew's possession,
but without it we can't be sure that our cousin was of marriageable age
on December fifteenth, 1860."

It was Mr. Clark's turn to rub his hands together complacently as
Hapgood looked more and more discomfited.

"In fact, my dear sir," Mr. Clark continued, "you have proved nothing
except that some Emily Leonard married a man named Smith on the date
named."

He tapped the papers gently with a thin forefinger and returned them to
their owner, who began to bluster.

"I might have known you'd put up a kick," he exclaimed.

"I live, when I'm at home, in Arkansas," replied Mr. Clark softly, "and
Arkansas is so near Missouri that I have come to belong to the
brotherhood who 'have to be shown.'"

Hapgood greeted this sally with the beginning of a snarl, but evidently
thought it the part of discretion to remain friendly with the people he
wanted to persuade.

"I seem to have done this business badly," he said, "but I'll send back
for the rest of the evidence and you'll have to admit that Mary's the
girl you need to complete your family tree."

"Come here, dear," Miss Clark called to Mary in her quiet voice. "Are
your