"The public need never know anything about it. See here, Haskins, you love this girl, and you seem to think that she is still alive. Good. I make a bargain with you. Give me three thousand of this six thousand a year belonging to the Durham estate, and you can marry Mavis quietly, and take her to America, or the Colonies. No one will think to find the notorious Mavis Durham in Mrs. Gerald Haskins. Thus everything will be settled, and I can marry Mrs. Crosbie--as I greatly want to--with a quiet heart. What say you?"
"I refuse your offer," said Gerald calmly. "Mavis shall have her character cleared, and shall have nothing or all of her income."
Rebb rose and snapped his fingers. "Do your worst," he said, trying to suppress his anger. "Find Mavis and marry her. But be prepared for me to have her condemned for Bellaria's murder and shut up in an asylum."
"I hope to prove her innocence," said Haskins quietly.
"Even if you do," snarled Rebb, becoming reckless when he found himself so beset, "you may lose the money."
"That is impossible: it belongs to Mavis."
"To the real Mavis."
Gerald rose, guessing that Rebb referred to the other twin. "What do you mean by that, Rebb?"
"Mavis has a sister. Yes, you may look, but Charity Bird is the real Mavis--or at least I can prove it to be so."
"There is a likeness between the girls, I admit," said Gerald, pretending ignorance, "but it is ridiculous to say that they are sisters."