The draught of air just
before the appearance, which Miss Ludington had spoken of in her talks
with me, was something that we never thought of, and was caused, I
suppose, by the drawing of the air up through the raised ceiling.
"It was all so easy, so easy; we need not have taken half the precautions
we did; you were so absolutely convinced from the first moment that I was
the Ida of the picture. From the time I came home with you that night
till now there has been no question of my proving who I was, but only of
Miss Ludington's proving, and of your proving, to me, that you were the
persons you claimed to be. It was not whether I was related to her, but
only that she was related to me, which Miss Ludington thought in any need
of demonstration.
"And as for you, Paul, it is not your fault that I was not your wife
weeks ago.
"And so I should have been, and Miss Ludington's heir besides, but for
two particulars in which our plot was fatally defective. It provided for
all contingencies, but made no allowance for the possibilities that I
might prove capable of gratitude towards Miss Ludington, and that I might
fall in love with you.
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