as dead. After that
I lived, as I have told you, in the States, England and on the
Continent.

"And now," he continued, "I will take up the thread of my narrative in
Quebec a few months ago, where I made the acquaintance of Denzil Carew
and Christopher Burley. I was struck at once by the remarkable likeness
the former bore to Osmund Maiden as I remembered him. As for the law
clerk, I suspected what his errand was, and from that time I began to
consider the chances of passing myself off for Osmund Maiden. We had
been of the same age, not unlike each other, and he had told me every
incident of his early life. The thing seemed impossible at first, but
when I learned from a paper at Fort York that the Earl of Heathermere
and his two elder sons were dead, I was more than ever set on gaining
the rich prize.

"And a strange fate played the game into my hands later, as you shall
see. You remember the cryptogram at old Fort Beaver, Carew. Well, that
gave me something to think about--I had an inkling of the truth then.
And soon afterward I found the key to it. How? you will ask. I will tell
you. It was in the locket worn by the Indian you shot--the Indian who
had killed your father years before. I managed to take it out and
conceal it----"

"You stole it!" I cried bitterly.

"Call it that, if you like," he answered, with a shrug of the shoulders.
"I tore up the key, but here is a translation of the cryptogram."

He handed me a slip of paper, and I read aloud the following:

"To my son, Denzil Carew: To discover secret of my birth, search
for papers in North Tower, behind third stone above door.
Your father.
"BERTRAND CAREW."

"That same night," resumed Captain Rudstone, "when I was on guard at the
camp, I slipped away into the storm. I reached Port Beaver the next day,
read the cryptogram, and found the papers; with them were the receipt
for the trunk at Fort Garry and the key. I was now in possession of
proofs which I believed would secure for me the title and estates of the
Earl of Heathermere. But I need say no more--you know the rest. I have
failed in the hour of triumph, and I accept my defeat with the
philosophy that has ever been a part of my nature. If I felt any
scruples, Carew, they were on your account. You are a good fellow, and I
am glad you have come into your own. As for me I suppose I must pay the
penalty of my misdeeds."

With that the capt