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the connecting link between the detective's mind and the seemingly palpable facts. At last she looked up, the colour coming and going in her cheeks, as Lord Donal had so accurately described it. "I don't think I can be of any assistance to you in this crisis, Mr. Taylor. You have already done everything that human ingenuity can suggest." "Yes, I have--everything that _my_ human ingenuity can suggest. But does nothing occur to you? have you no theory to put forward?" "None that would be of any practical advantage. Is Lord Donal certain that it was not the Princess herself whom he met? Are you thoroughly convinced that there was really an impersonation?" "What do you mean, Miss Baxter?" "Well, you met Prince von Steinheimer; what do you think of him?" "I thought him an overbearing bully, if you ask me. I can't imagine what English or American girls see in those foreigners to cause them to marry. It is the titles, I suppose. The Prince was very violent--practically ordered me out of the Castle, spoke to his father-in-law in the most peremptory manner, and I could easily see the Princess was frightened out of her wits." "A very accurate characterization of his Highness, Mr. Taylor. Now, of course, the Princess being a woman--and a young woman--would naturally be very anxious to attend the Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball, wouldn't she?" "One would think so." "And, as you have just said, she has a bear of a husband, a good deal older than herself, who does not in the least care for such functions as that to which the Princess was invited. Is it not quite possible that the Princess actually attended the ball, but, for reasons of her own, desired to keep the fact of her presence there a secret; and you must remember that Lord Donal Stirling had not seen the Princess for five years." "For five years?" said the detective sharply. "How did you learn that, Miss Baxter?" "Well, you know," murmured the girl, with a gasp, "he met her last in Washington, and the Princess has not been in America for five years; so you see--" "Oh, I was not aware that he had met her in America at all; in fact, Lord Donal said nothing much about the Princess--all his talk had reference to this lady who impersonated her." Jennie leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes for a moment, and breathed quickly. "I am afraid," she said at last, "that I do not remember with sufficient minuteness the details you have given me, to be
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