The Chief Legatee

ubt natural to the occ

is? You state the impos

only too will

startled you. Neither Mr. Fulton nor his wife meant to deceive you. They knew nothing, suspected noth

how

or a long time, and had always given evidence of an especial attachment for her. Asking about this girl's height and general appearance (for the possibility of a substitution was already in my mind), I found that she was of slight figure and good carriage, and that her age was not far removed from that of her young mistress. This made the substitution I have mentioned feasible, and when I was told that she was seen taking her hat and bonnet into the bride's room, and, though not expected to leave till the next morning, had slid away from the house by the basement door at the same moment her mistress appeared on the front ste

ll I saw. She was looking directly

She was the very woman. Otherwise the mystery is impenetrable. A deep plot, Mr. Ransom; one that should prove to you that Mrs. Ransom's motive in leaving yo

she did it under an influence which robbed her of her own will; an influence from which she shrank even while succumbing to it. I can show her no greater

ly humiliated and disappointed man reveal the secrets of a courtship which had fixed his heart on this one woman, and aroused in him such trust that even this uncalle

rs. Ransom from my side, it was not lack of affection, or an

d on the first point, but he was discretion itsel

. I will do my best, sir; but first, cann

I

pply it. She has lived a seemingly open and happy life in their house, and the mystery is as great to them as to you. But you, as her lover and now her husband, must have been favored with confidences not g

ed up again, the detective perceived that the affair was hopeless so far as he was concerned. "No," he repeated, this time

know it. What do you know of her

me five years ago. Her fortune was willed her, as I have already told you, by a great-uncle. It is entirely in her own hands. Left an orphan early, she lived first with her brother; then when he died, with one relative after another, till lastly she sett

mean, of course, Bela Burton's. They will report here up to twelve o'clock to

my

ut I doubt if we do to-night unless she has rejoined her maid or the man wit

ience. "And I must sit helpless here!" he

e occasion called for whatever com

you if she takes a notion to return. But wom

he Fultons, who wanted to know what news. He answered as best he could, and was recrossing disconsolately to his

g up his courage, waited for the inevitable

got? Have you

ee him; that is, if the descri

s client's struggle for composure, he quietly asked, "A lady in a

s the

oman who went out of the b

side. The shame of the thin

urs and the blue veil visited the man

s,

he

x this af

whe

Denis where I have

g did sh

t an

e parl

e than one noticed them, but no one heard anythin

s this m

ce. He has engag

ith the tw

es

what

h Po

muttered Ransom. "Porter, did you say? I

ed authority and deference natural to one of his kind. "To-m

but Mr. Ransom was not

gle word may solve this mystery. He has the word. I'

om the office this time. A note had just been h

was at th

e messenger. It may be from your lady," he remarked to

d stood waiting. The two detectives exchang

ing and his face looked drawn and pale. But he showed no further disposition to go o

ds me farewell for a time, but does not favor me with any explanations. She cannot do differently, she says, and ask

the door. "I take it that you wouldn't obje

d out whether she gave thi

that the note had been given him to deliver by a clerk

morrow they would question him; the mystery was not without a promise of solution. So Gerridge felt; but not Mr. Ransom

e well enough to wait in silence for de