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During the fortnight that followed Kendale was a constant visitor at the palatial Fairfax home. And those two weeks changed the whole after current of Claire's life, as Faynie observed with wonder. It was certainly evident the girl was deeply in love, and Faynie trembled for her, for love would bring to such natures as hers the greatest peace or the bitterest sorrow.
In that instant Lester Armstrong slipped on the icy pavement, and Kendale, bending quickly over him, exclaimed: "He has broken his neck! He is dying. He won't last five minutes!" A gasp of horror broke from Kendale's lips. Yes, Lester Armstrong was fatally injured, he could see that. Glancing up, he saw that they were within a few doors of his lodgings.
Margery hid her face in her trembling hands while her father gave Lester a full account of what had transpired, while the latter's emotion was great; and his distress intense, upon learning that Kendale had dared betroth himself to Margery in his name, and that the gentle-hearted girl had learned to care for the scamp, despite her repugnance to him at first.
He knew that Clinton Kendale would stop at nothing to gain his end, and his agony at the thought that he might be unable to prevent it in time almost drove him to the verge of madness. He felt that they would hold him there until they tortured from him whatever secret he held which they wished to learn; then they would deliberately make away with him.
Clinton Kendale would step into his place, personating himself so cleverly that the great world, under whose very eyes the terrible tragedy had taken place, would never know the difference. Even Faynie would not know how she had been tricked and cheated, and the last thought almost drove him to the point of frenzy, nearly succeeding in turning his tortured brain.
"Oh, Lester, have pity have mercy I " "You shall have the same quality of mercy dealt out to you that you have meted out to others!" replied Lester, sternly. Suddenly Kendale wrenched himself free from his grasp, crying out, hoarsely and triumphantly: "I am game yet. I have married the girl you love. She is my lawfully wedded wife.
You can kill me, but the secret of the safe combination will die with me." Kendale laughed a little short, hard laugh. "You are mad to thus defy me," he cried, harshly, "when you stop to consider that I can open it in any event. I can simply say the combination has slipped from my mind. Who is there to question Mr. Lester Armstrong, the head of the firm? No one no one.
But Claire did not stir; she stood quite still, looking from the one to the other, as though she could not fully comprehend all that she saw and heard. By this time Kendale had recovered from his shock, and as he listened to Faynie's recital, realized that she was not indeed a ghost, but the heiress of the Fairfax millions, and his own wife at that.
Clinton Kendale showed himself to be a thorough actor in carrying out a part carefully, as he followed the boy through the main office, where all of the bookkeepers were at work, toward the little office in the rear. "Ah, this is indeed comfortable," he exclaimed, flinging himself into a luxurious leather armchair.
For hours Lester Armstrong lay like one stunned, turning over and over in his mind the awful revelation he had heard. That a human being, especially his cousin, Clinton Kendale, should have plotted so horribly against him seemed almost past believing. Then he remembered how treacherous he had been in his early days, and he wondered that he had been so mad as to have trusted him.
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