Hawley is going to take advantage of her ignorance in
this respect, and convince her that she is the person he wishes her to
represent--but who is the person? If we knew that we might block the
game."

Both sat silent, striving to figure out some reasonable explanation.

"Do you know of any special papers your father carried?" he asked.

"No; none outside his business agreements."

"Has anyone ever disappeared connected with your family? Did you have an
older sister?"

"Fred and I were the only children. Why should you ask that question?"

"Because something of that nature would seem to be the only rational
explanation. Your brother must have told Hawley something--some family
secret--which he felt could be utilized to his own advantage. Then
he saw your picture, and was immediately reminded of the remarkable
resemblance between you and Christie Maclaire. Evidently this discovery
fitted into his plan, and made it possible for him to proceed. He has
been trying ever since to get an interview with the woman, to sound
her, and find out what he can do with her. He has written letters,
sufficiently explicit to make it clear his scheme is based upon a will
drawn, as he claims, by Christie's grandfather. No doubt by this time
he has fully convinced the girl that she is the rightful heiress to
property--as he stated to Scott--valued at over a million dollars.
That's a stake worth fighting for, and these two will make a hard
combination. He's got the papers, or claims to have, and they must be
the ones stolen from your father. I have been trusting you might know
something in your family history which would make it all plain."

"But I do not," decisively. "You must believe me; not so much as a
hint of any secret has ever reached me. There are only the four of us,
Father, Mother, Fred, and I. I am sure there can be no secret; nothing
which I would not know. Perhaps, if I could see Miss Maclaire--"

"I am convinced that would be useless," he interrupted, rising, and
pacing across the floor. "If Hawley has convinced her of the justice of
the claim, he will also have pledged her to secrecy. He is working out
of sight like a mole, for he knows the fraud, and will never come to the
surface until everything is in readiness. I know a better way; I'll
find Fred, and bring him here. He would tell you whatever it was he told
Hawley, and that will give us the clue."

He picked up his hat from the table, but she rose to her feet, ho