"Well, the name seemed to strike her, and she at once asked if you had not stayed quite a long time with Mrs.... Mrs.... Oh, you mentioned her when you spoke of being here several weeks before your marriage."
"Mrs. Bergemann," said Claire, and immediately added, in tones full of quiet interest: "Well, Mrs. Diggs?"
"Why, that was what placed you, don't you know, with Cousin Cornelia. Yes, Mrs. Bergemann; that was the name."
"Did your cousin know Mrs. Bergemann?" inquired Claire.
"She didn't say so. But she appeared to know just who you were. I think she's going to make me present you. There seems to be some queer mystery. She acted rather strangely. Are you sure you've never met before?"
"Yes, I am perfectly sure," answered Claire. "Did you not say that the lady's name was Van Horn?"
"Cousin Cornelia's? Why, yes; of course it is. She's my second cousin. She's related on the Van Kortlandt side. She was a Miss Thurston."
"Thurston," repeated Claire, not interrogatively, but as though she had caught the sound with recognition the instant it left the speaker's lips. She broke into a smile, now. "That explains everything. She is a sister of Mr. Beverley Thurston, is she not?"
"Cousin Beverley? Of course she is. Do you know him?"
"Oh, yes," said Claire. "I knew him very well."