“No, Merrick; you’ve got me there!  I never have had enough experience in this line that I could go into the detail work.  I have to be guided by the main points in the case.  Then, again, I gave Brown’s testimony very little thought, as I considered him unreliable and irresponsible.”

“Well, to come back to the ‘main points,’ then:  what reasons have you for connecting Mrs. LaGrange and Hobson with this affair that might not apply equally well in the cases of certain other people?”

“What reason?  Why, man alive! there is every reason to consider Mrs. LaGrange the instigator of the whole affair.  In the first place, her one object and aim for the past seventeen or eighteen years has been to get hold of Hugh Mainwaring’s property, to secure for herself and her son what she calls their ‘rights’ — "

“That is the point,” Merrick interrupted.  “You consider her guilty because she would be interested in securing a hold upon the property, although she, personally, has no claim whatever.  Has it never occurred to you that there might be others more deeply interested than she, inasmuch as they have valid claims, being the rightful heirs?”

“I never thought of such a possibility,” said the astonished attorney; “and I don’t know that I understand now to whom you refer.”

“I have learned from various reliable sources,” the detective replied, “that Ralph Mainwaring has a younger brother, Harold, who is as much of a money-lover as himself, though too indolent to take the same measures for acquiring it.  He is a reckless, unprincipled fellow, and having about run through his own property, I understand, he has had great expectations regarding this American estate, depending upon his share of the same to retrieve his wasted fortune.  I learned yesterday, by cable, that since the departure of Ralph Mainwaring and his family for this country, his brother has been missing, and it is supposed, among his associates in London, that he took the next steamer for America, intending to assert his own claims.”

“And you think — " the attorney interrupted, breathlessly; but Merrick shook his head and continued,-

“I have also, in the course of my investigations, incidentally discovered Hugh Mainwaring’s secret, and, consequently, Hobson’s secret, only that I know the real facts in the case, which Hobson does not know.  You, as Mainwaring’s friend, will not care to learn the details, and I shall not speak of them now, but I will say this much:  there are probably in existence to-day, and perhaps not very far distant, heirs to this property, having a claim preceding not only that of Ralph Mainwaring or his son, but of Hugh Mainwaring himself.”

There was silence for a few moments as the detective paused, Mr. Whitney’s surprise rendering him speechless; at last he said,-

“Well, you are a truthful fellow, Merrick, and you never jump at conclusions, so I know your statements can be relied upon; but I’ll be blessed if I understand how or when you have gathered all this information together.  I suppose it would be useless to ask your deductions from all this, but I wish you would answer one or two questions.  Do you think that this Harold Mainwaring, or those possible heirs you mention, would put in an appearance personally, or that they would work through agents and emissaries?”