She was a simple soul and fell easily into the trap.  In half an hour Mr. Ransom was ensconced in a pleasant room over the porch, a room which he soon learned possessed many advantages.  For it not only overlooked the main entrance, but was so placed as to command a view of all the rooms on his hall.  In two of those rooms he bade fair to be greatly interested, Mrs. Deo having remarked that they were being prepared for a lady who was coming that night.  As he had no doubt who this lady was, he encouraged the good woman to talk, and presently had the satisfaction of hearing her say that she was very happy over this lady’s coming, as she was a Sitford girl, one of the old family of Hazens, and though married now and very rich was much loved by every one in town because she had never forgotten Sitford or Sitford people.

She was coming!  He had made no mistake.  And this was the place of her birth, just as he had decided when he saw that long line of oxen!  He realized how fortunate he was, or rather how indebted he was to Mr. Harper, since in this place only could he hope to gain satisfaction on the mooted point raised by that same gentleman.  If she had been born here, so had her twin sister; so had the brother whose claims lay counter to that sister’s.  Both must have been known to these people, their persons, their history and the circumstances of their supposed deaths.  The clews thus afforded must prove invaluable to him.  From them he must soon be able to ascertain in which story to place faith and which claimant to believe.  He might have interrogated his hostess, but feared to show his interest in the supposed stranger.  He preferred to wait a few hours and gather his facts from other lips.

Meantime it rained.

CHAPTER VIII

ELIMINATION

At about three o’clock in the afternoon Mr. Ransom left his room.  He had been careful almost from his first arrival to sit with his door ajar.  He had, therefore, only to give it a slight push and walk out when he heard the bustle of preparation going on in the two rooms in whose future occupancy he was so vitally interested.  A maid stood in the hall.  A man within was pushing about furniture.  The landlady was giving orders.  His course down-stairs did not lead him so far as those rooms, so he called out pleasantly: 

“I have written till my head aches, Mrs. Deo.  I must venture out notwithstanding the rain.  In which direction shall I find the best walking?”

She came to him all eagerness and smiles.  “It’s all bad, such a day,” said she, “but it’s muddiest down by the factories.  You had better climb the hill.”

“Where the cemetery is?” he asked.

“Yes; do you object to cemeteries?  Ours is thought to be very interesting.  We have stones there whose inscriptions are a hundred and fifty years old.  But it’s a bad day to walk amongst graves.  Perhaps you had better go east.  I’m sorry we should have such a storm on your first day.  Must you go out?”