Have you ever heard her speak of him?"
"Josiah Auchincloss of St. Louis, Missouri," read Mr. Ransom. "No, the
name is new to me. Didn't she tell you anything about him when she gave
you her instructions?"
"Not a word. She said, 'You will hear from him if ever this will is
published. He has a right to the money and I entreat you to show your
respect for me by seeing that he gets it without any unnecessary
trouble.' That was all she said or would say. Your wife was a woman of
powerful character, Mr. Ransom. My little arts counted for nothing in any
difference of opinion between us."
"Auchincloss!" repeated Ransom. "Another unknown quantity in the problem
of my poor girl's life. What a tangle! Do you wonder that I am overcome
by it? Anitra--the so-called brother--and now this Auchincloss!"
"Right, Ransom, I share your confusion."
"Do you?" The words came very slowly, penetratingly. "Haven't you some
idea--some strange, possibly half-formed notion or secret intuition which
might afford some clew to this labyrinth? I have been told that lawyers
have a knack of getting at the bottom of human conduct and affairs. You
have had a wide experience; does it not suggest some answer to this
problem which will harmonize all its discordant elements and make clear
its various complications?"
Mr. Harper shook his head, but there was a restrained excitement in his
manner which was not altogether the reflection of that which dominated
Ransom, and the latter, observing it, leaned across the table till their
faces almost touched.
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