“Depends altogether upon circumstances.  Harold Mainwaring would not be likely to appear on the scene unless he were pretty effectually disguised.  As to the others, — if they were to assert their claim, — it would be difficult to say just what course they might take.  I have made these statements merely to give you a hint of the possibilities involved in the case.  It is now getting rather late, but I will give you one or two pointers to ruminate upon.  Don’t think that Hobson will run any risks or put himself to any personal inconvenience for Mrs. LaGrange.  He is working first and foremost for Richard Hobson, after that for whoever will pay him best.  Another thing, don’t ever for a moment imagine that Hugh Mainwaring’s private secretary is looking for a job.  It’s my opinion he’ll give you fellows one of the hardest jobs you ever tackled; and, unless I’m greatly mistaken, he’s got brains enough and backing enough to carry through whatever he undertakes.”

“Say!  I don’t know as I exactly catch your meaning; but that’s one thing I wanted to ask you.  What do you think of that young man, anyway?  I can’t make him out.”

“I noticed that you had not assigned him any place in that theory of yours.”

“No; he’s been a mystery to me, a perfect mystery; but this evening a new idea has occurred to me, and I would like your judgment on it.  Has he ever reminded you of any one?  That is, can you recall any one whom he resembles?”

“Well, I should say there was a marked resemblance.  I’ve often wondered where your eyes were that you had not seen it.”

“You have noticed it, then?  Well, so have I; but it has puzzled me, for, though the look was familiar, I was unable to recall whose it was until to-night.  Now that I have recalled it, that, taken in connection with some other things I have observed, has led me to wonder whether it were possible that he is a son of Hugh Mainwaring’s, of whose existence no one in this country has ever known.”

“Hugh Mainwaring!  I don’t understand you.”

“Why, you just acknowledged you had noticed the resemblance between them!”

“I beg your pardon; but you must recollect that I have never seen Hugh Mainwaring living, and have little idea how he looked.”

“By George! that’s a fact.  Well, then, who in the dickens do you think he resembles?”

The coachman’s step was heard at that instant on the stairs, and Merrick’s reply was necessarily brief.

“Laying aside expression, take feature for feature, and you have the face of Mrs. LaGrange.”

CHAPTER XIV

THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY

One of the first duties which the secretary was called upon to perform, during his brief stay at Fair Oaks, was to make a copy of the lost will.  He still retained in his possession the stenographic notes of the original document as it had been dictated by Hugh Mainwaring on that last morning of his life, and it was but the work of an hour or two to again transcribe them in his clear chirography.