as
though she were a changeling.

Instantly the truth came to her, and with head held high and a slight
scornful smile upon her lips she descended and approached him.

The long table in the center of the library was strewn with large
legal-looking documents, and beside it sat Mason North, his rotund body
sagged in the chair, his good-natured face drawn and haggard. Opposite
him stood Starr Wiley, his bruised lips twisted into a leer of triumph.

The girl looked gravely from one to the other and then turning to her
cousin, waited submissively for him to speak.

"Willa, my dear----" he paused, clearing his throat nervously--"I have
something to tell you which will be a painful shock to you. It has
utterly unnerved me. I--I would not have dreamed that such an
astounding discovery could come to pass and at this late date it is
particularly distressing----"

"Better permit me to tell her, Ripley." Mason North rose heavily to
his feet and stood with one pudgy hand braced upon the table as if for
support. "The mistake was mine in too eagerly grasping the obvious as
proof.--My dear Wil--my dear girl, I am profoundly grieved, but it has
been brought to our attention that--that there are grave doubts as to
your identity! In fact, belated but seemingly irrefutable documentary
evidence appears to prove that you--you are not Willa Murdaugh!"

The girl stood like a statue, but from behind her Mrs. Halstead gasped
convulsively, and there came a little squeal in Angie's treble tones.

"Sit down, my dear." Ripley Halstead drew forward a chair and Willa
sank obediently into it, her eyes never leaving those of the attorney.

The others came in and seated themselves unbidden; all but Vernon. He
took up his stand behind Willa's chair and for a moment his hand
brushed her shoulder as if to assure her of his presence in case of
need.

"It is only just that an immediate and detailed explanation be made to
you," North continued. "I am sure it is unnecessary for me to express
my regret and sympathy, but I want you to realize that I am as entirely
at your service in every way as I was prior to this discovery.

"When I found you in Limasito and retraced your history from the time
the man known as 'Gentleman Geoff' adopted you supposedly in Topaz
Gulch, I overlooked one significant phase in his peregrinations. Willa
Murdaugh's parentage and the circumstances of her birth were in every
particular as I have told you; Ralph Murdau