“Him!” she exclaimed, passionately; “the price I paid hoping to win Hugh Mainwaring!  I am proud of him as my own flesh and blood, but love him?  Never!”

“But you have not yet told me what you think of my last suggestion,” he said, tentatively, watching her closely.  Her manner changed instantly; rising with all her accustomed hauteur and turning from him with a gesture of dismissal, she replied,-

“Come to me later, when I shall have measured lances with our new opponent, and you shall have your answer.”

He would have spoken, but her dismissal was final, and with darkening face he left the room.

CHAPTER XIX

MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS

The sudden turn of affairs in the Mainwaring case excited no small amount of comment, and for the next ensuing days speculation was rife concerning the recently discovered will, but more particularly regarding the new and unknown claimant.  At the clubs and elsewhere it formed the principal topic of conversation, and Ralph Mainwaring was loud in his denunciations of the one as a forgery, and of the other as an impostor.  To all such remarks, however, as well as to the questions of the curious, Mr. Sutherland had but one reply, accompanied by a slow, quiet smile; that on the day set for the hearing, he would not only prove the validity of the will, but would also establish, beyond all doubt or question, the identity of the claimant.

As a result, public curiosity was so thoroughly aroused, that upon the arrival of the “Umbria,” an unusual crowd of reporters was assembled at the pier, notwithstanding a pouring rain, and the gang-plank had no sooner been thrown down than a number of the more ambitious rushed on board, eager to be the first in gaining some bit of information or personal description.  Their efforts, however, were unsuccessful, as the individuals whom they most desired to meet remained in their state-rooms and declined to be interviewed.  Not until the crowd had about dispersed and the patience of a few of the more persistent was nearly exhausted, was their zeal rewarded by the sight of a party of four Englishmen, who hastily left the boat, completely enveloped in heavy mackintoshes, and, taking a closed carriage which was awaiting them, were driven rapidly to the Waldorf Hotel.

At the hotel the party still remained inaccessible to all visitors, with the exception of Mr. Sutherland, who spent much of his time in their apartments.  It was ascertained that the party consisted of two gentlemen, one of whom was accompanied by a valet, the other — presumably the attorney — by a clerk, but all efforts towards gaining any more definite information prove absolutely futile.  The arrival by the next steamer of another stranger, an elderly gentleman, who immediately joined the party at the Waldoff, after having registered under an evident alias, only served to deepen the mystery.