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He frowned anxiously. "I never saw this young woman before," he admitted slowly. "Ha!" cried the chief, glad to find some one culpable. "Did you receive your invitation through the proper channels?" asked Hamilton. "I came here to-night," coldly, "on the invitation of Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds, who sailed for Europe Wednesday." Here was an alibi that was an alibi! I was all at sea.
I had seen her for the first time less than eight hours before; and yet I was confident that as many years, under ordinary circumstances, would not have taught me her real worth. "Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds will never forgive me," said Hamilton dismally, "if she hears that I've been the cause, indirectly and innocently, of turning you away." "Mrs.
Pardon me, but are you the artist who recently completed the miniatures of the Emperor of Germany, the Princess of Hesse, and Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds?" "I am. I believe there is no further reason for detaining me." "Emperor of Germany?" echoed the now bewildered chief. "Why didn't you tell all this to Mr. Haggerty?" "I had my reasons." Once again the door opened.
I was in no manner surprised at the announcement that Miss High-Culture was going to wed the Duke of Impecune; I had always been certain this girl would do some such fool thing. That Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds was giving a farewell dinner at the Waldorf, prior to her departure to Europe, interested my curiosity not in the least degree. It would be all the same to me if she never came back.
Hamilton bowed; the chief coughed worriedly behind his hand. The girl had told me she was an impostor like myself, that her ten of hearts was as dark-stained as my own. I could not make head or tail to it. Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds! She was a law in the land, especially in Blankshire, the larger part of which she owned. What did it all mean? And what was her idea in posing as an impostor?
Why did you tell me you were an impostor; why did you go to the cellars with me, when all the while you were at the ball on Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds' invitation?" She leaned on her elbows and smiled at me humorously. "Would you really like to know, Signor? Well, I was an impostor." She sat with her back to the fire, and a weird halo of light seemed to surround her and frame her. "Mrs.
Hyphen-Bonds need never know," replied the girl, smiling inscrutably. "In fact, it would be perfectly satisfactory and agreeable to me if she never heard at all." "I will call a conveyance for you," said the defeated M. F. H. "I shall never forgive you, Dicky." "Yes, you will, Teddy. A loving-cup, the next time we meet at the club, will mellow everything."
The snow blew about me, whirled, and swirled, and stung. Oddly enough I recalled the paragraph relative to Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds. By this time she was being very well tossed about in mid-ocean. As the old order of yarn-spinners used to say, little did I dream what was in store for me, or the influence the magic name of Hyphen-Bonds was to have upon my destiny. Bismillah!
Hyphen-Bonds accidentally dropped that invitation in my studio, a few days before she sailed for Europe. I simply could not resist the temptation. That is all the mystery there is." "And they still think you were there rightfully!" "You are no longer mystified?" "Yes; there is yet another mystery to solve: myself." I knew it.
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