“And you conceived the thought that perhaps a total stranger might prove more sympathetic?”

“Yes,” she admitted.  “If he was young and adventurous; provided I interested him at all.  It would seem to offer me a chance; and then, if unknown to the party impersonating me, such a one might learn the truth unsuspected.  Do you believe me, Captain?”

“I have no reason to doubt what you say.  What you describe is not impossible, and there surely must be an adequate explanation for it.  I mean to do my very best to uncover the mystery.  You have these fraudulent checks?”

“Yes; one was returned to me only yesterday.”

“I shall want them, together with one you drew yourself.  Also the names of the servants who have apparently been approached by this person, and the circumstances.”

“Certainly.”

“You do not mind if I ask you one or two rather direct personal questions?”

“Assuredly not.”

“What caused you to announce our engagement?”

She laughed, but from sudden embarrassment.

“It was silly, wasn’t it!  Really I do not exactly know; a sudden impulse, and the words were spoken.  It occurred to me that our intimacy could be accounted for in no other way.”

“So I supposed.  Well, there is no harm done, but now, you understand, we must play out the game.”

“Play it out?”

“Surely; act natural, permit no suspicion to be aroused.  Even if I should feel impelled by duty, to kiss you, it is my privilege.”

“Why—­why, you cannot mean that!”

“Oh, but I do.  This is no threat that I shall insist on carrying the matter to such an extreme, yet I must insist on the right if it becomes necessary.  You would scarcely dare refuse, would you?”

“No,” she confessed, her eyes suddenly meeting his, “I—­I suppose not; but—­but is it necessary to discuss that now?”

“Perhaps not, only I must know.  You will play the game?”

Her eyes fell, the breath pulsing between her lips.

“I am not afraid,” she said rather proudly.  “Yes, I will play the game.”

“Good!  I knew you would.  And now for the second question; why did you come to my room last night?”

She stared at him incredulously, the flush fading from her cheeks.

“Your room!  I come to your room!  Assuredly no; what can you mean?”

“Then it must be that I have already encountered the ghost,” he declared smilingly.  “For the very counterpart of you certainly visited me.  I had a clear view of her in the moon-light, but she vanished down the hall.  I would have sworn she was you.”

“A woman?”

“Absolutely a woman; flesh and blood, no doubt as to that.”

“When was this?”

“After midnight.”

“It was not I, Captain West; please believe that—­but hush; there comes
Percival Coolidge!”

CHAPTER V