Either such a fear was the
inspiration or the relationship was so dear that the heart of the
arch-plotter was full of love for the innocent victim.
"Who is to say, Miss Gray," said Bonner one night as they sat before the
fire, "that the woman who left you with Mr. Crow was not your own
mother? Suppose that a vast estate was to be yours in trust after the
death of some rich relative, say grandparent. It would naturally mean
that some one else resented this bequest, and probably with some
justice. The property was to become your own when you attained a certain
age, let us say. Don't you see that the day would rob the disinherited
person of every hope to retain the fortune? Even a mother might be
tempted, for ambitious reasons, to go to extreme measures to secure the
fortune for herself. Or she might have been influenced by a will
stronger than her own--the will of an unscrupulous man. There are many
contingencies, all probable, as you choose to analyse them."
"But why should this person wish to banish me from the country
altogether? I am no more dangerous here than I would be anywhere in
Europe. And then think of the means they would have employed to get me
away from Tinkletown. Have I not been lost to the world for years?
Why--"
"True; but I am quite convinced, and I think Mr. Crow agrees with me,
that the recent move was made necessary by the demands of one whose
heart is not interested, but whose hand wields the sceptre of power
over the love which tries to shield you.
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