“Thank you,” he said, as he buttoned his coat, “for caring for this; it is very precious to me; and some day I will tell you why and show you its contents. This much I will tell you now—had it been lost or destroyed, _my identity_ would also have been destroyed.” Editha looked up in surprise, but she asked no question. His _identity_ destroyed! Was it possible that Sumner Dalton’s keen eyes could have missed anything of importance within that package? Editha accompanied him to the door, and parted from him with a simple “good-night,” and then went quietly and gravely to her own room. But she had sent him forth full of courage and hope in spite of his present loneliness and unpromising future; and that bunch of holly was the most precious thing that the world held for him that day, the fair giver excepted. CHAPTER XII THE ECCENTRIC CLIENT Several months passed, and bravely did Earle Wayne battle with the world and fate. Cheerfully, too; for, although he did not permit himself to see much of Editha, lest his purpose not to speak of love should fail him, yet in his heart he knew that she loved him, and would wait patiently until his conscience would allow him to utter the words that should bind her to him. This he felt he had no right to do until his name could be cleared from the stain resting upon it, and he had also gained a footing and practice in the world which would warrant his asking the aristocratic Miss Dalton to be his wife. It was hard, up-hill work, however, for Notwithstanding he had passed a brilliant examination and been admitted to the bar, yet it seemed as if some unseen force or enemy was at work to press him down and keep him from climbing the ladder of either fame or wealth. And there was such an enemy! Sumner Dalton hated him. He hated him for what he had so dishonorably learned regarding him—who and what he was—and for the relationship which he bore to that face which he had seen in his mysterious package. He hated him for the interest which Editha manifested in him, and also because Richard Forrester had desired him to have a portion of his vast fortune, and the former had dared to oppose and defy him regarding the matter. He could never brook opposition from any one, and he had always possessed a strange desire to be revenged upon anybody who stood in his way in any form whatever. It would not do for him to revenge himself directly upon Editha, for she, with all her money, was altogether too important a personage to him; but he knew he could do so indirectly through Earle, and so set himself to work to crush him.