"Miss Washington," said Maximilian, like a lawyer who has reached his crucial question, for he was a trained attorney, "would you recognize your aunt's signature if you saw it?"
"Certainly."
"You have often seen her write?"
"Yes; hundreds of times."
"Have you any reason to distrust this good man, Rudolph? Do you not know that in testifying to the truth he runs the risk of his own destruction?"
"Yes, yes," she said, and there was a wild and worried look in her eyes.
"Read the receipt, Rudolph," said Maximilian.
Rudolph read, in the same low and almost trembling tones, the following:
NEW YORK, August 5th, 1988.--Received of Matthew Rudolph,
for the Prince of Cabano, the sum of five thousand dollars, in consideration of which I have delivered to the said Prince of Cabano the body of my niece, Estella Washington; and I hereby agree, as the custodian of the said Estella Washington, never to demand any further payment, from the said Prince of Cabano, on account of my said niece, and never to reclaim her; and I also pledge myself never to reveal to any of the relatives of the said Estella Washington her place of residence.
(Signed) Maria Plunkett.