The packet fastened by a cord about Ruth's neck ought easily to have proved her identity.

Perhaps the packet was stolen." "Then how did Ruth come by the watch and letter ?" asked Grace.
"I give it up," replied Miriam.

"It certainly is a tangled web." "But we shall straighten it," said Grace resolutely.

"The next thing to do is to find Mr.Denton.Tell me, Jean, how many years since you first met Mr.Denton ?" Jean counted laboriously on his fingers.

"Twelve years," he finally announced, "an' say his family have died six years then." "Eighteen years," mused Grace, "and Ruth is twenty-two.