Percival wouldn't go on the
stand, and there wasn't much he could swear to if he did."
"But who was the other witness--the living one?"
"The nurse; she made the exchange of the dead baby for the living one. It
was easily done as the child was really sick."
"But for what object--revenge?"
"She was poor, and yielded to temptation. Percival Coolidge paid her to
make the exchange. I have never been able to learn what his original
purpose was, but she thinks he believed the stolen child was a boy, and
that later, through him, the Coolidge money might be controlled. However
the woman lost her nerve, and disappeared with the infant. She brought it
up as her own in the west, where she married again. I am her second
husband, and that is how I learned the truth."
"The woman on the yacht?"
"Yes, you saw her. The child was brought up in our life; I figured on
this coup for years, and finally when all was ready, we came back east
again. I had a plan, but I wasn't quite sure it would work until I could
see the two girls together. After that it was like taking candy from a
kid. Hell, you are the only one who has even piped off the game."
West looked closely at the man, who was thus coolly boasting of his
exploits, and then at the silent girl, whose eyes sullenly gave back
their challenge. What did it all mean? Why were they calmly telling him
these things? Was it merely the egotism of crime, pride of achievement?
or did Hobart hope in some way to thus win his assistance, or at least
his silence?
"Why do you tell all this to me, Hobart?" he asked shortly.
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