the prints upon it to be identical with those
on the page we had been looking at. My father touched them with his
finger and found that they were fresh, as the ink smeared readily. His
name was on the corner of the page, where he had written it. There
could be no doubt that in some way Mahbub had been able to duplicate
the prints.

"Senor Silva repeated the experiment with another set of prints and
then with another. I think there were six altogether, and every one of
them was successful."

"Was Swain's one of them?" asked Godfrey.

"No; but when Mr. Lester told me that Fred was suspected because of
those finger-prints, the thought flashed into my mind that if Senor
Silva and Mahbub could imitate those of other people, they could
imitate Fred's, too; and when I looked at the album and found that
sheet torn out, I was sure that was what had happened."

"And so you decided to stay in the house, to win Senor Silva's
confidence by pretending to become a convert, and to search for
evidence against him," I said. "That was a brave thing to do, Miss
Vaughan."

"Not so brave as you think," she objected, shaking her head. "I did
not believe that there would be any real danger, with the three
servants in the house. Only at the last did I realise the desperate
nature of the man...."

She stopped and shivered slightly.

"Tell us what happened," I said.

"It was on Sunday afternoon," she continued, "that I went to Senor
Silva and told him that I had decided to carry out my father's wish,
renounce the world, and become a priestess of Siva. I shall never
forget the fire in his eyes as he listened--they fairly burned into me."

"Ah!" said Godfrey. "So that was it!"

She looked at him inquiringly.

"Except upon one hypothesis," he explained, "that action on your part
would have embarrassed Silva, and he would have tried to dissuade you.
He had left him by your father's will this valuable place and a
million dollars. If money had been all he sought, that would have
satisfied him, and he would have tried to get rid of you. That he did
not--that his eyes burned with eagerness when you told him of your
decision--proves that he loved you and wanted you also."

A brighter colour swept into Miss Vaughan's cheeks, but she returned
his gaze bravely.

"I think that is true," she assented, in a low voice. "It was my
suspicion of that which made me hesitate--but finally I decided that
there was no reason why I should spare him and