-a counterfeit
of myself?"

"It is the only theory feasible; you have convinced me of that."

"Yet this does not answer my question altogether. You are convinced now,
perhaps, because you accept my word, but how have you kept faith in me
when you believed just as strongly that it was actually I who met and
talked with you? I who was playing in the game with the man Hobart?"

"Will you believe what I say?"

"Implicitly."

"Perhaps it sounds like a fairy tale," he spoke frankly, his eyes seeking
her own, all their surroundings forgotten in the eagerness of the moment,
"but I will tell you the exact truth. Before this misunderstanding
occurred you had confided in me, trusted me, although I was a stranger
and I believed absolutely in your story. I had that basis to rest on. In
addition to this, those few hours I passed at 'Fairlawn' served to
confirm my faith. I got hold of various odds and ends of evidence which
convinced me that something was wrong--that you were actually being
conspired against. I even gained a suspicion that Percival Coolidge was
the actual leader of the conspiracy."

"Percival Coolidge! but why? What could he gain by such a crime?"

"I have not found the answer yet, but my conviction remains
strong--stronger, indeed, than ever since our talk last night. You could
never have been made prisoner in that cottage without his connivance; he
must have lured you there for that particular purpose, so that this other
girl could take your place without danger of discovery. It was a neat
trick, so well done as to even deceive me. The reason for Percival's
participation is only a guess, but my theory is the fellow had so juggled
your fortune, and the time for final accounting was so near, he had to
take a desperate chance in order to save himself."

"You mean the opportunity came, and he could not resist?"

"Perhaps so, and perhaps it was his own deliberate plan. That remains to
be discovered. My own theory is that when Hobart learned what Percival
Coolidge proposed doing, his own criminal tendencies told him that here
was some easy money. The girl was undoubtedly wholly under his control;
some denizen of the underworld probably. She had already played her part
sufficiently well to convince Hobart of success. Why then, shouldn't he
have this money instead of Percival? There was no reason except that
Percival was in the way. That was why he was killed."

"By Hobart?"

"He may not have fired the shot, bu