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 getting anything out of him. "Has she invested money in it?"

"She has, Mr. Wedgwood—no secret about that," replied Mrs. Patello. "Mrs. Clagne, although she is and has for many years been housekeeper to young Mortover, as she was to Stephen before him, has money of her own. Clagne, he was a jeweller in Derby, and in a very good way of business, and he left her all he had—a nice thing! And she has invested largely in this Mortover Main Colliery Company, and one of her reasons in recently visiting us was to advise us to do the same. And we'd no hesitation, for I know my sister well enough to be sure that she'd risk nothing—she's as keen on money as anybody can be. And don't you see, Mr. Wedgwood, if this young woman really is the true owner of that Mortover property, why then, there'll be all sorts of complications arise, and perhaps our money mayn't be safe, and—and to put it in a nutshell, Mr. Wedgwood, can you really tell us whether this girl really is who she says she is—Matthew Mortover's daughter?"

Wedgwood rose to his feet. He realized what Mrs. Patello had come for. But he still had a lingering doubt about her.

"Can't say, Mrs. Patello," he answered. "She says she is. No doubt she has proofs