I was stricken dumb for a moment at the discovery they had brought. Then I gasped:
“Mrs. Knapp!”
“Yes, Mrs. Knapp,” she said with a mournful laugh. “Did you never suspect?”
I was lost in wonder and confusion, and even yet could not understand.
“What brings you out in this storm?” I asked, completely mystified. “I thought I was to meet another person.”
“Indeed?” said Mrs. Knapp with a spark of animation. “Well, I am the other person.”
I was paralyzed in mind and nerve for a moment with the astonishment of the disclosure. Even yet I could not believe.
“You!” I exclaimed at last. “Are you the protector of the boy? The employer—” Then I stopped, the tangle in my mind beginning to straighten out.
“I am she,” said Mrs. Knapp gently.
“Then,” I cried, “who is he? what is he? what is the whole dreadful affair about? and what—”