"There you are," insisted Hapgood loudly. "That's her; that's the
grandmother of Mary here."
"You're sure of that?"
"Here's the record of the birth of Jabez, son of Edward and Emily
(Leonard) Smith two years later, and the record of his marriage to my
sister and the record of the birth of Mary. After I got the marriage of
this Emily straightened out the rest was easy. We had it right in the
family."
The two sisters gazed at each other aghast. The man was so assertive and
coarse, and the child was so far from gentle that it seemed impossible
that she could be of their own blood. Still, they remembered that
surroundings have greater influence than inheritance, so they held
their peace, though Miss Maria stretched out her hand to Mary. Mary
stared at it but made no move to take it.
"Your records look as if they might be correct," said Mr. Clark, an
admission greeted by Hapgood with a pleased smile and a complacent rub
of the hands; "but," went on the old gentleman, "I see nothing here that
would prove that this Emily Leonard was our cousin."
"But your nephew, Stanley, wrote you that he had found that your Emily
had removed to the neighborhood of Pittsburg."
"That's true," acknowledged the elder man, bending his head, "but Emily
Leonard isn't an unusual name."
"O, she's the one all right," insisted Hapgood bluffly.
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