ace,' which seemed to fall so familiarly
from his lips. 'Stop! are you mad?" Do you know what you are
saying? Once more I demand that you state who or what you are, and
your business here!'

"'That is quickly stated, Hugh Mainwaring,' he answered, in tones
which made my heart beat with a strange dread; 'I am Harold Scott
Mainwaring! I am here to claim no brotherhood or kinship with you,
but to claim and to have my own, the birthright restored to me by
the last will and testament of a dying father, of which you have
defrauded me for twenty-five years!"

"'You are a liar and an impostor!' I cried, enraged at the sound of
my brother's name, and for the instant believing the man to be some
emissary of Hobson's who had used it to work upon my feelings.

"Drawing himself up to his full height, his eyes blazing, he answered
in low tones, 'Dare you apply those epithets to me, usurper that you
are? You are a liar and a thief, and if you had your deserts you
would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported to the wilds of
Australia! I an impostor? See and judge for yourself!' and with a
sudden, swift movement the black curling hair and mustache were
dashed to the floor, and he stood before me the exact counterpart
of myself. Stunned by the transformation, I gazed at him speechless;
it was like looking in a mirror, feature for feature identically the
same! For a few seconds my brain seemed to reel from the shock, but
his tones recalled me to myself.

"'Ah!' he said, with mocking emphasis, 'who is the impostor now?'

"My first thought was of self-vindication, and to effect, if
possible, a compromise with him. 'I am no impostor or usurper,' I
said, 'because, believing you dead, I have used that to which in
the event of your death I would be legally entitled even had you
any claim, and I am willing, not as an acknowledgment of any valid
claim on your part, but as a concession on my own part, to give you
a liberal share in the estate, or to pay you any reasonable sum
which you may require--

"He stopped me with an intolerant gesture. 'Do not attempt any
palliation of the past with me,' he said, sternly; 'it is worse
than useless; and do not think that you can make any compromises
with me or purchase my silence with your ill-gotten wealth. That
may have served your purpose in the past with your associate and
coadjutor, Richard Hobson, the man who holds in his mercenary
grasp the flimsy reputation which is all th