"Senor Silva repeated the experiment with another set of prints and
then with another. I think there were six altogether, and every one of
them was successful."
"Was Swain's one of them?" asked Godfrey.
"No; but when Mr. Lester told me that Fred was suspected because of
those finger-prints, the thought flashed into my mind that if Senor
Silva and Mahbub could imitate those of other people, they could
imitate Fred's, too; and when I looked at the album and found that
sheet torn out, I was sure that was what had happened."
"And so you decided to stay in the house, to win Senor Silva's
confidence by pretending to become a convert, and to search for
evidence against him," I said. "That was a brave thing to do, Miss
Vaughan."
"Not so brave as you think," she objected, shaking her head. "I did
not believe that there would be any real danger, with the three
servants in the house. Only at the last did I realise the desperate
nature of the man...."
She stopped and shivered slightly.
"Tell us what happened," I said.
"It was on Sunday afternoon," she continued, "that I went to Senor
Silva and told him that I had decided to carry out my father's wish,
renounce the world, and become a priestess of Siva.
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