You could never have been made prisoner in that cottage without his connivance; he must have lured you there for that particular purpose, so that this other girl could take your place without danger of discovery.

It was a neat trick, so well done as to even deceive me.

The reason for Percival's participation is only a guess, but my theory is the fellow had so juggled your fortune, and the time for final accounting was so near, he had to take a desperate chance in order to save himself." "You mean the opportunity came, and he could not resist ?" "Perhaps so, and perhaps it was his own deliberate plan.

That remains to be discovered.

My own theory is that when Hobart learned what Percival Coolidge proposed doing, his own criminal tendencies told him that here was some easy money.