irl, of the polished,
highly trained woman I married. I have not even succeeded in startling
her ear--something which I should have been able to do if she were not
the totally deaf woman she appears. Confide to me then your reasons for
demanding additional proofs of her identity. If they carry conviction
with them, I will aid you in any scheme you can propose which will
neither frighten nor afflict her."

Hazen rose to his feet. Narrow as the room was, he yielded to his
restless desire to move about and began pacing up and down the restricted
quarters bounded by the edge of the table and the door. Not until he had
made the second turning did he speak; then it was with seeming openness.

"It's like putting the torch to my last ship," said he; "but this is no
time to hesitate. Mr. Ransom, I do not trust my eyes, I do not trust my
ears, nor your eyes, nor your ears, nor those of any one here, because I
have talked with a man who was on the same train with my sisters. He
noticed them because of their similar appearance and close intimacy.
They were not dressed alike, but they were veiled alike and one did not
move without the other. More than that, they not only walked about the
various stations where they waited, arm in arm, but they sat thus closely
joined in the cars all the way from New York. This interested him
especially as he noted great anxiety and incessant movement in the one,
and complete passiveness in the other. She who sat in the outer seat was
watchful, busy, and ready to press the other's arm at the least
provocation, but if either spoke it was always the other. It was not till
the quick rush and shrill whistle of a passing train made one start and
not the other, that he got the idea that one of them was deaf. As this
was the one by the window, he felt that their peculiar actions were now
accounted for, and indeed thus far it all tallied with what we might
expect from Georgian traveling with the hapless Anitra. But there
remained a fact to be told, which rouses doubt. When they reached
G---- and he saw from their quick rising that they were about to leave
the train, he naturally glanced their way again, and this time he caught
a glimpse of the inner one's neck. Her veil had become slightly
disarranged, exposing the whole nape. It was unexpectedly dark, almost
brunette in color, and quite devoid of delicacy; such a skin as one might
look for in the gipsy Anitra after years of outdoor living and a long
lack o