Page:The Master of Mysteries (1912).djvu/379

 and there was barely time to hustle every one downstairs and outside. Do you see the situation? They had to work quick. Those surgeons showed all sorts of nerve, I can tell you. But in the confusion the two babies were somehow mixed up by the nurse. One was a boy, and one was a girl, born within three minutes of each other. But which was my child, the boy or the girl? That's how it stands. You see, at the time nothing was said to me about any uncertainty. My wife died from the shock; so did the other woman. The boy was given to me as my baby. I never suspected that there was any doubt about it, and have brought him up and educated him as my son."

"But when did you first suspect that he wasn't?" Astro asked.

"Only a month ago. The former nurse told the whole thing. Said it was on her conscience, and had been for years; so much so that she had kept track of both children. The little girl was put in an orphan asylum, as no one came to claim her; then she was adopted by a family in Newark; and now she's a salesgirl at Bloom's candy store. Working behind a counter at six a week, by Jove! and may be my daughter, and the heir to 'Soothoid'! What do you think of that? Wouldn't you worry?" He shoved his hands into his pockets and regarded the Master of Mysteries.

"The nurse isn't sure which is which?"

"No. It has been tormenting her conscience for twenty years, and she had to make a clean breast of it. All she knows is that she 'mixed those babies up'; like Little Buttercup in Pinafore. So I've come to you. Doctors say it positively can't be proved, either way. I thought you might do it by the palms or crystals or