ened rather than
dispelled by the confidences of this new brother-in-law.

"The maze is at its thickest," he remarked as he left a few minutes later
with the perplexed Gerridge. "How shall I settle this new question? By
what means and through whose aid can I gain an interview with my wife?"

CHAPTER VI

THE LAWYER

The answer was an unexpectedly sensible one.

"Hunt up her man of business and see what he can do for you. She cannot
get along without money; nor could that statement of hers have got into
the papers without somebody's assistance. Since she did not get it from
the fellow we have just left, she must have had it from the only other
person she would dare confide in."

Ransom answered by immediately hailing a down-town car.

The interview which followed was certainly a remarkable one. At first Mr.
Harper would say nothing, declaring that his relations with Mrs. Ransom
were of a purely business and confidential nature. But by degrees, moved
by the persuasive influence of Mr. Ransom's candor and his indubitable
right to consideration, he allowed himself to admit that he had seen Mrs.
Ransom during the last three days and that he had every reason to believe
that there was a twin sister in the case and that all Mrs. Ransom's
eccentric conduct was attributable to this fact and the overpowering
sense of responsibility which it seemed to have brought to her--a result
which would not appear strange to those who knew the sensitiveness of her
nature and the delicate balance of her mind.

Mr. Ransom recalled the tenor of her strange letter on this subject, but
was not convinced. He inquired of Mr. Harper if he had heard her say
anything about the equally astounding fact of a returned brother, and
when he found that this was mere jargon to Mr. Harper, he related what he
knew of Hazen and left the lawyer to draw his own inferences.

The result was some show of embarrassment on the part of Mr. Harper. It
was evident that in her consultations with him she had entirely left out
all allusion to this brother. Either the man had advanced a false claim
or else she was in an irresponsible condition of mind which made her see
a sister where there was a brother.

Ransom made some remark indicative of his appreciation of the dilemma in
which they found themselves, but was quickly silenced by the other's
emphatic assertion:

"I have seen the girl; she was with Mrs. Ransom the day she came here.
She sat in the adjoin