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ise Her gaze, which had merely been insolent, now became
suspicious She scrutinized Sheila closely
"I didn't know the Balls had anybody living with 'em," she resumed
at length "You ain't been here long, have you?"
"Oh, for some time," was the cheerful rejoinder
"They hire you?"
"Not--not exactly You see, I am sort of related to them, too"
"A relation of this old Cap'n Ira?"
"Of Mrs Ball"
"Huh! Say, what's you name?"
"My name is Bostwick," was the composed reply "You did not mention
yours, did you?"
"_Bostwick?_"
"They call me Ida May Bostwick," said Sheila, demurely smiling, and
even then without a suspicion of the vortex into which she was being
drawn
"_Ida May Bostwick!_"
The visitor rose out of her seat as though a spring had been
released under her Her eyes flattened, distended, and sparked like
micaceous rock in the dark Her hands clenched till the pointed,
highly polished nails bit into the palms
"What do you say? _You_ are Ida May Bostwick?"
At that moment Sheila Macklin saw the light It smote upon her brain
like a shaft from a great searchlight; a penetrating, cleaving beam
that might have laid bare her very soul before the accusing
stranger She staggered, retreating, shrinking, but only for a
moment
The pallor that had come into her face left it Color rose softly
under the exquisite skin and there came a haughty uplift of her
chin She stared back into the blazing, greenish-brown eyes of the
other, her own eyes unafraid, challenging
"Do you doubt me?" she demanded, with as much composure as though a
secure position and a conscience quite at ease were hers "Who are
you? In what way are you interested in my name or in my identity?"
"Why, you--you--" The visitor was for the moment stricken
speechless But it was the speechlessness of rage--of wild and
uncontrollable fury Then she caught her breath "You dirty cheat,
you! You stand there and tell me you are Ida Bostwick? You've got
gall--you certainly _have_ got gall!
"I'd like to know who the devil you are? Comin' right here, wormin'
your way into a place that don't belong to you, gettin' on the soft
side of my aunt an' uncle, I s'pose, and thinkin' to grab all they
got when they die Oh, I know _your_ kind, miss!
"But I'll show you up I'll let 'em know what's what and who's who
They must be precious soft to take a girl like you in and think
she's Ida Bostwick How _dare_ you?"
She stamped her foot She advanced upon the other threateningly But
the girl she had accused did not retreat The flush of outrage and
that haughty expression were still upon her countenance She spoke
very firmly but in a voice so low that it contrasted the more
sharply with the enraged squall of her opponent She asked
"Who are _you_, if you please?"
"You've cheek to ask me I'd ought to spit on you, so I had! But
I'll tell you who I am--and it'll hold you for a while, I guess I
am Ida May Bostwick You know full and well you are makin' out to
these rich relations of mine that you are me I'll show you up,
miss! I'll have you whipped--or jailed--or something The gall of
you!"
The other girl heard her with unchanging face Somehow, that steady,
unshrinking look gave Ida May Bostwick pause It was she who
recoiled
CHAPTER XX
THE LIE
The girl who had seized upon the chance of becoming Ida May
Bostwick, and so escaping the horror and despair that enshrouded
Sheila Macklin like a filthy mantle, stood after the first blast as
firm as a rock under the torrent of vituperation and rage which
poured from the other girl's lips
The real Ida May--weak, save in venomous hate, unstable as water, as
shallow as a pool of glass--could have joined issue in a
hair-pulling, face-scratching brawl She was of that breed and
up-bringing
Sheila Macklin's very dignity held Ida May Bostwick at arm's length
With all right and title to the name and place Sheila had usurped,
the new arrival was awed by the impostor's look Following that
first--and merely instantaneous--expression of horrified surprise at
Ida May's announcement of her identity, this girl, who was so secure
in the confidence of the Balls and the community, proceeded to look
down at the claimant of her achieved position with utter calmness
It made the real Ida May almost afraid Certain as she was of her
own name and the assertion of her own personality, the bold and
unshaken opposition confronting her in the very look of the impostor
abashed Ida May Bostwick After her first outbreak she was silenced
"Do you really know what you are saying?" the girl in possession
asked "Are you aware that I am Ida May Bostwick? There certainly
cannot be two girls of the same name, both related to Mrs Prudence
Ball That is too ridiculous"
The other gasped Though red and white by turn, from impotence and
rage, her fury was quelled under the look of the more composed young
woman
"There are twenty people almost within call who know me and who can
swear to my name and my assertions that I am Miss Bostwick," went on
Sheila, with a calmness which both frightened and daunted the other
"Just why you should come here and make such a preposterous claim I
cannot understand Where do you come from? Who are you--really?"
Ida May stared, flaccid, helpless For the time being all her rage,
her rudeness, her amazement, even, drained out of her For this
impostor to face her down in this way; for her to claim Ida May's
name and identity with such utter calm--such sangfroid; for Sheila
to stand before her and deliberately declare that what Ida May had
known to be her own all her life long--her name and distinctive
character--was actually another's--all this was so monstrous a thing
that Ida May was stunned
Suppose--suppose something had really happened to her mind? People
did go mad, Ida May had heard She had rather a vague idea as to
what insanity w
