agent. There are the receipts, dated a week before the bank
suspended. But enough of THAT--THAT isn't what I asked you to come
and see me for."

The blood had rushed back to Paul's cheeks uncomfortably. He saw
now, as impulsively as he had previously suspected his co-trustee,
that the man had probably ruined himself to save the Trust. He
stammered that he had not questioned the management of the fund nor
asked to withdraw his proxy.

"No matter, sir," said the colonel, impatiently; "you had the
right, and I suppose," he added with half-concealed scorn, "it was
your duty. But let that pass. The money is safe enough; but, Mr.
Hathaway,--and this is the point I want to discuss with you,--it
begins to look as if the SECRET was safe no longer!" He had raised
himself with some pain and difficulty to draw nearer to Paul, and
had again fixed his eyes eagerly upon him. But Paul's responsive
glance was so vague that he added quickly, "You understand, sir; I
believe that there are hounds--I say hounds!--who would be able to
blurt out at any moment that that girl at Santa Clara is Kate
Howard's daughter."

At any other moment Paul might have questioned the gravity of any
such contingency, but the terrible earnestness of the speaker, his
dominant tone, and a certain respect which had lately sprung up in
his breast for him, checked him, and he only asked with as much
concern as he could master for the moment:--

"What makes you think so?"