"
"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.
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