tand how I
feel. _She looks exactly like me._ It is that which makes the world
eddy about me. I cannot get used to it. It is like seeing my own
reflected image step from the mirror and walk about doing things. Two
of us, Roger, two! If you saw her you would call her Georgian. And she
says that she knows _you_, admires _you_! _and she says it in my
voice_! I try to shut my ears, but I hear her saying it even when her
lips do not move. She is as ignorant as she is afflicted and I cannot
leave her. She cannot hear a sound, though she can talk well enough
about what is going on in her own mind, and she is so wayward and
uncertain of temper, owing to her ignorance and her difficulty in
understanding me, that I don't know what she would do if once let out
of my sight. I love you--I love you--but I must stay right here.

Your affectionate and most unhappy

Georgian.

The sheet with its tear-stained lines fell from his grasp. Then he caught
it up again and looked carefully at the signature. It was his wife's
without doubt. Then he studied the rest of the writing and compared it
with that of the note which had been thrust into his hands earlier in the
day. There was no difference between them except that there were
evidences of faltering in the latter, not noticeable in the earlier
communication. As he noted these tokens of weakness or suffering, he
caught up the telephone receiver in good earnest and called out
Gerridge's number. When the detective answered, he shouted back:

"Have you read the evening papers? If you haven't, do so at once; then
come directly to me. It's business now and no mistake; and our first
visit shall be on the fellow at the St. Denis."

CHAPTER V

IN CORRIDOR AND IN ROOM

Three quarters of an hour later Mr. Ransom and Gerridge stood in close
conference before the last mentioned hotel. The former was peremptory in
what he had to say.

"I haven't a particle of confidence in this newspaper story," he
declared. "I haven't much confidence in her letter. It is this man who is
working us. He has a hold on her and has given her this cock and bull
story to tell. A sister! A twin sister come to light after fifteen years
of supposed burial! I find the circumstance entirely too romantic. Nor
does an explanation of this nature fit the conditions. She was happy
before she saw _him_ in the church. He isn't her twin sister. I tell you
the game is a deep one and she is the s