"Not in my eyes," said Diana obstinately. "If Mrs. Vrain is innocent,
how did she find out that the unknown man murdered in Geneva Square was
my father?"

"By his assumption of the name of Berwin, which was mentioned in the
advertisement; also from the description of the body, and particularly
by the mention of the cicatrice on the right cheek, and of the loss of
the little finger of the left hand."

Diana started. "I never heard that about the little finger," she said
hurriedly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I saw myself when I knew your father as Berwin, that he had lost
that little finger."

"Then, Lucian, you did _not_ see my father!"

"What!" cried Denzil, hardly able to credit her words.

"My father never lost a finger!" cried Diana, starting to her feet. "Ah,
Lucian, I now begin to see light. That man who called himself Berwin,
who was murdered, was not my father. No, I believe--on my soul, I
believe that my father, Mark Vrain, is alive!"

CHAPTER XXIII

A STARTLING THEORY

When Diana declared that her father yet lived, Lucian drew back from her
in amazement, for of all impossible things said of this impossible case
this saying of hers was the strangest and most incredible. Hitherto, not
a suspicion had entered his mind but that the man so mysteriously slain
in Geneva Square was Mark Vrain, and, for the moment, he thought that
Diana was distraught to deny so positive a fact.

"It is impossible," said he, shaking his head, "quite impossible. Mrs.
Vrain identified the corpse, and so did other people who knew your
father well."

"As to Mrs. Vrain," said Diana contemptuously, "I quite believe she
would lie to gain her own ends. And it may be that the man who was
murdered was like my father in the face, but--"

"He had the mark on his cheek," interrupted Lucian, impatient of this
obstinate belief in the criminality of Lydia.

"I know that mark well," replied Miss Vrain. "My father received it in a
duel he fought in his youth, when he was a student in a German
university; but the missing finger." She shook her head.

"He might have lost the finger while you were in Australia," suggested
the barrister.

"He might," rejoined Diana doubtfully, "but it is unlikely. As to other
people identifying the body, they no doubt did so by looking at the face
and its scar. Still, I do not believe the murdered man was my father."

"If not, why should Mrs. Vrain identify the body as that of her
husband?"

"Why?