ned?"

"From some place in Nebraska, I believe."

"And she?"

"Why, she came from some place in Nebraska too!"

"The _same_ place?"

"That we must find out."

Mr. Gryce mused for a minute; then he observed:

"Mr. Orcutt was renowned in his profession. Do you know any thing about
his career--whether he brought a reputation for ability with him, or
whether his fame was entirely made in this place?"

"I think it was made here. Indeed, I have heard that it was in this
court he pleaded his first case. Don't you know more about it, Hickory?"

"Yes; Mr. Ferris told me this morning that Orcutt had not opened a
law-book when he came to this town. That he was a country schoolmaster
in some uncivilized district out West, and would never have been any
thing more, perhaps, if the son of old Stephen Orcutt had not died, and
thus made a vacancy in the law-office here which he was immediately sent
for to fill."

"Stephen Orcutt? He was the uncle of this man, wasn't he?"

"Yes."

"And quite a lawyer too?"

"Yes, but nothing like Tremont B. _He_ was successful from the start.
Had a natural aptitude, I suppose--must have had, to pick up the
profession in the way he did."

"Boys," cried Mr. Gryce, after another short ruminative pause, "the
secret we want to know is of long standing; indeed, I should not be
surprised if it were connected with his life out West. I will tell you
why I think so. For ten years Mrs. Clemmens has been known to put money
in the bank regularly every week. Now, where did she get that money?
From Mr. Orcutt, of course. What for? In payment for the dinner he
usually took with her? No, in payment of her silence concerning a past
he desired kept secret."

"But they have been here fifteen years and she has only received money
for ten."

"She has only put money in the bank for ten; she may have been paid
before that and may not. I do not suppose he was in a condition to be
very lavish at the outset of his career."

"You advise us, then, to see what we can make out of his early life out
West?"

"Yes; and I will see what I can make out of hers. The link which
connects the two will be found. Mr. Orcutt did not say: 'It was all for
you, Imogene,' for nothing."

And, dismissing the two young men, Mr. Gryce proceeded to the house of
Mr. Orcutt, where he entered upon an examination of such papers and
documents as were open to his inspection, in the hope of discovering
some allusion to the deceased lawy