Aloud, he said:
“But, if you are his daughter, you have rights to maintain which you should not desert under any circumstances.”
“I am the best judge of that. I understand that Mr. Field was very wealthy, but if I choose to sacrifice that wealth it is my own concern.”
Nick was eying her keenly.
He did not know what to make of her.
It certainly did look suspicious to the last degree that she should put in an appearance with the claim of being the murdered man’s daughter on the morning following his death. But if she did not intend, and did not take advantage of the claim and endeavor to get the fortune, what was he to think?
The impulse of his heart was that the girl did not have any guilty knowledge of the singular crime, but he would not listen to its promptings when they were opposed to his reason.
He finally said to himself:
“Does she not speak this way for a purpose? Let me see. If she was really concerned in the affair would she not come here this morning so early to put in her claim? Of course. Pretending surprise at hearing of Mr. Field’s death, would it not be a good card for her to play to say, that under the circumstances she would not make any effort to prove her claim? Of course, again, for she would be aware that as the gentleman had no other heirs, one must be found, or let the property go to the State; at which juncture she would come forward again and step into possession with little if any opposition. According to this showing her purpose here this morning is only to show herself and put in a claim in due season, that she may have witnesses afterward.”
And thus concluding, his lips set themselves tightly together. Come what might, he no longer had any sympathy for the girl who was, and would continue in his eyes to be, an impostor endeavoring to profit by the crime committed against Mr. Field.