The physician was completely overwhelmed for a moment at this seeming verification of his own suspicions. He had felt instinctively from the first that the man who so completely upset the Lady Van Tyne's composure on the evening of his first appearance, was not the son of Mrs. Archibald Sinclair, yet now, in the presence of the unsuspecting woman, the bewildered Doctor was speechless and disturbed.
At last he felt it necessary to continue the recital, and rallying his wits he congratulated them sincerely on their fortunate information and the proof that had so stubbornly denied all possibility of error.
With sorrow for the misguided girl, they glanced curiously over the certificate and Stella, rising a moment later to adjust the shade, laid the paper carefully upon the nearest table.
While they were still talking, the portieres dividing the double parlors were pulled gently aside and Mrs. Morris entered in search of the little one, as it was long after her usual hour for retiring.
Stella immediately introduced them, but for a moment Dr. Stewart nearly forgot his manners in the piercing scrutiny of his glance. Somewhere he had seen that face before, or one resembling it closely, but ransack his memory as he would, he could not recall the circumstances.
Turning quickly from the physician's searching gaze, Mrs. Morris said softly, "come Elsa, come to mamma; it is high time little girls were safely in bed!"
But Elsa was hiding beside Mrs. Sinclair's chair, and that good lady, with a face as demure as possible, was aiding the little culprit in her mischief by holding a fold of her gown about the tiny figure.
Mrs. Morris saw the playful ruse and stepped across the room to pull the little one from her hiding place, but in doing so she had to pass the table and quite accidentally her glance fell upon the paper which Stella had just laid down.
For a moment she stood and stared as if she could hardly believe her senses, then with a sudden bound, she seized the paper, crying, "Oh, my certificate, my certificate! Where did you find it?"
It was several seconds before any one spoke.