That was why I worked up
the Colby idea."
"That's easy to see."
"It wasn't so easy to do. But I heard of the last of an old Virginia
family who had died of consumption in Arizona. I traced his family. He
was the last of it. Then it was easy to arrange a little story: Terence
Colby had married a girl in Arizona, died shortly after; the girl died
also, and I took the baby. Nobody can disprove what I say. There's not a
living soul who knows that Terence is the son of Jack Hollis--except you
and me."
"How about the woman I got the baby from?"
"I bought her silence until fifteen years ago. Then she died, and now
Terry is convinced that he is the last representative of the Colby
family."
She laughed with excitement and beckoned him out of the room and into
another--Terry's room, farther down the hall. She pointed to a large
photograph of a solemn-faced man on the wall. "You see that?"
"Who is it?"
"I got it when I took Terry to Virginia last winter--to see the old
family estate and go over the ground of the historic Colbys."
She laughed again happily.
"Terry was wild with enthusiasm.
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