ice.

Having done all that was necessary in the east, he had then taken the
final and most hazardous step of going to Farnham's home. It was hardly
remarkable, therefore, that he had seized the opportunity of escaping so
trying an ordeal at once. It seemed to me impossible that he should
intend returning to Denver, where, in the light of day, and among old
business and domestic associates, he could not long hope to escape
detection, perfect as the likeness seemed to be. What, then, would he
do, I eagerly asked myself? He had so far been successful in
establishing the fact all along his route that Harvey Farnham had not
only returned in safety to America, but had shown himself at home. So
much having been gained, Wildred must perforce be relieved of all
suspicion of the crime which I had tried to fasten upon him, and this
being the case, I assured myself that it was Wildred's hand only which
had contrived this intricate and ingenious plot. This man, disguised as
Farnham, was in Wildred's pay, there could be no doubt of that, and had
in all probability been engaged for the purpose he was now carrying out
before the murder had taken place.

I tried as I walked to put myself in the place of the schemers, and thus
hew out, through an intimate mental process, some idea as to how the
loose ends of the mystery were to be disposed of.

"If I were that fellow," I said to myself at last, "I should think it
was about time to disappear. I should feel sure I'd come to the end of
my tether, and that somehow or other Harvey Farnham, as represented by
me, had got to be unostentatiously wiped out."

Farnham, however, was too rich and important a man in the western states
of his own country to disappear conveniently and with impunity. There
would be a hue and cry, and suspicious facts might somehow be brought to
light. The only safe way, I decided, would be for the alleged Harvey
Farnham to kill himself; but this it did not appear very likely that the
most dazzling bribe could induce him to do. He meant to find some more
comfortable way out of the hole into which he had so deliberately crept
than the way of suicide, and it began to seem that the only method by
which I could prove my case would be by finding out what that way was to
be.

At present, unless I could have the fellow arrested, and such disguise
as he might wear dragged off, I should have great difficulty in
obtaining credence of my story. The incidents were all so remarka