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At first, it was hard for James Bansemer to believe that his henchman had not been mistaken Droom's description of the lady certainly did not correspond to what his ation, however, assured him that the Cables in the mansion near the lake were the people he had known in New York Bansemer took no one into his confidence, not even Droom Once convinced that the erstwhile firenate, he set to work upon the ain from the secret in his possession He soon learned that the child was a young wo in society, but there was no way for him to ascertain whether Frances Cable had told the truth to her husband in those dreary Far West days

Banseht frooods His ill-gotten gains came with him; and investo as in New York Now, he saw a chance to wring a handsome sum from the rich woman whose only possession had been love when he first knew her If the secret of Jane's origin still remained locked up in her heart, the effort would be an easy one He learned enough of David Cable, however, to know that if he shared the secret, the plan would be profitless and dangerous

It was this uncertainty that kept hi a note which ht prove a most disastrous folly Time and circumstance could be his only friends, and he was accustomed to the whiiven by the Cables, and srimly Time had worked wonders for them! Scandal, he knew, could undo all that aht He could well afford to wait

However, he did not have long to wait, for his opportunity caht in Hooley's Theatre Graydon and he occupied seats in the orchestra, near the stage and not far fro the busy Christmas holidays, but the "star" was of sufficient consequence to pack the house The audience was no end of a fashionable one Tiay party in one of the lower boxes The face of the woirls who sat forward, turned occasionally to look over the audience; and he saw that they were pretty, one exceptionally so One of the -featured; the others were quite too insignificant to be of interest to him The woman whose back he could see did not look out over the audience Her indifference was so marked that it seemed deliberate