"I really didn't know what to do. Your father was so ill that the nurse and I had to give him every attention. I was waiting for the doctor to come again, but he could not get here on account of the snow-drifts. Mr. Wadsworth put in an appearance about two hours later, and then I told him just what I have told you. He declared at once that it must be a trick, stating that Dave had not been near the house since going away with all of you young folks. Mr. Wadsworth was quite put out, and wanted to know how it was that I had not been able to detect the deception." "Well, I must say--" commenced Ben, and then stopped short, for he could see how his mother was suffering. "Oh, yes, Ben, I know what you were going to say," she broke in quickly. "Having known Dave so many years I should have discovered the deception. But, as I said before, I was terribly worked up over your father's condition. Then, too, the young man came in bundled up in an overcoat and a cap that looked exactly like those Dave wears." "They were mine. That fellow stole them from me," interrupted our hero, bitterly. "Not only that, but he had a tippet placed over his head and around his neck, and he spoke in a very hoarse voice, stating that he had caught a terrible cold while on the sleigh-ride and while coming back to Crumville on the freight train. He spoke about Mr. Basswood's real estate business, and about Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth and Jessie, and so many other things that we are familiar with, that I was completely deceived. Then, too, his turning over that written card to me also threw me off my guard. But I know I was very foolish, very foolish indeed!" and Mrs. Basswood's lips trembled and she wrung her hands once again. "What did Mr. Wadsworth do?" questioned Dave, in the midst of rather an awkward pause. He agreed with Ben that Mrs. Basswood should have recognized Ward Porton as an imposter, but he did not want to say anything that might add to the lady's misery. "He said he would set the authorities at work and see if he could not find Porton and his confederate. I was so bewildered that I--well, I might as well admit it--I told him that I couldn't understand how I had been deceived, and that maybe Dave had gotten the miniatures after all." "Oh, Mrs. Basswood, you didn't really mean that!" cried our hero. "I was so bewildered I didn't know what I meant, Dave. That young man did look so very much like you. That's the reason, when you folks drove up to the house, I ran out to ask if you had really been here or not." "Have you heard anything of this Ward Porton since?" asked Roger. "I haven't heard anything. Whether Mr. Wadsworth has learned anything or not I do not know, for he has not been here and the storm has been so awful, with all the telephone wires down, that I could not send for news." "Does father know about this now?" questioned Ben.