“He is your guardian?”

“Yes; you learned that last night?”

“From the Colonel; he seemed to enjoy talking, and naturally, I was curious.  Has Percival Coolidge wealth of his own?”

“Only what my father left him, which was a considerable sum, and a limited interest in the business.  He was very much dissatisfied with his share.  Originally he was one of the two trustees in charge of the estate, but the other died, leaving him entirely in control.  Before I was born he had confidently expected to inherit everything.”

“The estate then is not settled?”

“Not until I am twenty-five; within a few days now.”

“And your mother?”

“She died at my birth.”

West leaned forward eagerly.  “It is the estate then that troubles you?” he asked swiftly.  “You imagine it has wasted?”

“No, not at all.  They tell me it has increased in value.  My father’s lawyer assures me as to this.  Percival Coolidge is a good business man, but something strange is going on behind the scenes.  I cannot talk with the lawyer about it; I can scarcely be sure myself.  I—­I am simply up against a mystery I am unable to solve.  Everywhere I turn I run into a blank wall.”

“But I do not understand.”

“How could you expect to, when it is so utterly obscure to me?  I seem to be fighting against a ghost.”

“A ghost!”

“Yes; now don’t laugh at me!  Do you suppose I would ever have done anything as reckless as advertising for help if I had not been actually desperate?  Can you imagine a respectable girl performing so ridiculous an act, as putting her whole trust in a stranger, inviting him to her home, introducing him as her promised husband to her relatives and friends?  Why, it almost proves me crazed, and, in a measure, I think I must be.  But it is because I have exhausted all ordinary methods.  I do not seem to be opposing anything of flesh and blood; I am fighting against shadows.  I cannot even explain my predicament to another.”

“You must try,” he insisted firmly, affected by her evident distress.  “I must be told everything if I am to be of any value.  A half way confidence can accomplish nothing.”

“But it sounds so foolish; I am being haunted!  I know that, yet that is all I do know.”

“Haunted, in what way?”

“I do not even know that; but by a woman, I think—­a woman who must strangely resemble me.  She pretends to be me—­to my friends, to my servants, at my bank.  I never see the creature, but I hear of her from others.  She has actually drawn checks in my name, imitating my signature, and having them cashed by clerks who know me well.  She has given orders to my servants, and they protest that I gave them.  She meets and talks with my friends in places where I never go.  I am sure she has actually been in this house, and ridden in my car undiscovered.  I am constantly reported as being seen at restaurants and hotels where I have not been, and with parties I do not know.  This has been going on for a month now.  I am unable to prove her an imposter, even to identify her.  I have endeavoured to discuss the situation with a few people, but they only laugh at the strange idea.  No one will listen to me seriously.  My lawyer actually believes I am demented.”