"Lissy, are you all right?" Josh asked.

She nodded, but he did not seem to notice. "Here, sit down. This has been a shock." Josh led her to the big chair by the fire and seated her in it.

"How could you!" Blanche railed at Gordon. "I told you she just lost a baby. She's not well, and now this on top of everything else. If I was a man, I'd shoot you where you stand!"

That much was obvious, Asa acknowledged. At the moment, he felt so low he might even have let her.

"And a detective." Blanche spat out the word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. She did not need to say more. Asa knew only too well what many people thought of private detectives, that they were only one step-if that-above the criminals they investigated. Allan Pinkerton was fighting hard to improve their image, but many people fiercely resisted the concept of peacetime spying. Obviously,

Blanche Delano was one of them.

"I'm sorry," Asa said, successfully hiding his own disappointment over Blanche's contempt. "I never meant to distress you, Mrs. Logan. I'll tell your grandfather where you are. I'm sure he'll be in touch. Goodby." He turned to the door, grateful he was going to be allowed to make such a dignified retreat, and even more grateful he had thought to tie his own horse on behind Blanche Delano's buggy for just such a contingency.

"Wait!" Felicity cried. "Don't leave!"

"You don't want that man here," Josh insisted, placing a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Get out of here, Gordon, and don't come back."

"No, please, Joshua! I want him to stay! There are so many things I need to know. Please!" Felicity entreated.

Josh looked into her eyes, and for the first time in many months, he saw hope reflected in their depths. As much as he detested Asa Gordon and everything he stood for, he could not snuff out that hope.

"All right, Gordon, you can stay until you've answered my wife's questions. You owe her that much," Josh said.

Asa studied Joshua Logan's steely gray eyes for a moment before deciding to accept the invitation. As much as he respected Logan's eagerness to protect his wife, Asa also had a strong sense of self-preservation that warned him to be very careful in how he treated Mrs. Logan.

"Please, sit down, Mr. Gordon," Felicity urged, impatient with Joshua's attempts at intimidating their visitor. She indicated the settee which faced the chair in which she sat, and with apparent reluctance, Gordon came over and sat down. She noticed he had not removed his coat. Probably he was prepared to make a hasty retreat if necessary. "Tell me everything you know about my grandfather," she entreated.

Asa cleared his throat, aware that Blanche had removed her cape and taken a seat to his left. Not allowing himself to look at her, he concentrated on Felicity Logan's perfect face.

"Your grandfather is Henry Maxwell. He makes his home in Philadelphia, and he made his fortune in railroads. Perhaps you've heard of him."

Felicity had not, but Blanche had. "Henry Maxwell? Not the Henry Maxwell!" she exclaimed.

Asa nodded grimly.

"Who is he?" Felicity asked.

"Like the man said, he made his fortune in railroads," Josh explained. He was sitting on the arm of her chair, and now he took her hand gently, as if he were delivering bad news. "Your grandfather built a lot of railroads over in Europe somewhere. He's famous."

"It was Russia," Asa corrected, "but your husband is right. Henry Maxwell is quite well known."

"And he must be a millionaire," Blanche added.

"Oh yes, many times over," Asa confirmed. "That is why he could afford to hire a Pinkerton detective to search for you. I've been on the case for almost a year, but we had someone else looking for you long before that."

"Then someone was following me!" Felicity said. "I always had this funny feeling that someone was chasing us. My father always said I was silly, but somehow I knew."

"I doubt that anyone really was 'chasing' you, Mrs. Logan," Asa said. "You see, we didn't actually start on the case until just a few months before your father passed away. What you may have sensed was that your father was running away-from your grandfather."

"But why?" Felicity asked, appalled at the thought that her father had feared or disliked her grandfather so much that he had actually fled to avoid him.

"Because when your mother died, Mr. Maxwell offered to take you in," Asa said. "Actually, it was more of a demand. I think he even sent someone to get you, but when they got there, you and your father were gone. Your father covered his tracks well, and after a few months, Mr. Maxwell gave up hope of ever locating you."

"Until now," Josh corrected grimly.

"Yes, until now," Asa confirmed. "As I told Mrs. Delano, Mr. Maxwell had a bad spell with his heart. He began to consider his own mortality and decided to find you if it was the last thing he did. Somehow he traced you to Texas, and you know the rest of the story."

"Mr. Gordon has been on the trail himself for almost a year," Blanche supplied bitterly. "He's been traveling up and down the state telling his lies and asking for word of you. He's a very dedicated man."

Asa winced at the sarcasm in her voice, but he decided not to respond. Instead he waited to see if Felicity had any more questions.

Felicity considered all the things he had told her. It explained so much that she had never understood before. And to think, she had a family about which she had never known. An emotion she hardly recognized stirred in her. Her life had been joyless for so many weeks, she needed a moment to comprehend the surge of happiness she felt. "Do I have any more relatives besides my grandfather?"

"Your mother's sister is still living, and there's a… a cousin or two, I think," Asa said, thinking of Richard Winthrop and deciding not to give him too much importance. With luck, the girl might never even have to know Winthrop existed.

"Oh, Mr. Logan, I have a family," Felicity said, reaching out to squeeze his hand, so overwhelmed with her own wonder that she did not notice the dread that flickered over her husband's face. "Do you suppose they'd like to come and visit us?" she asked hopefully.

Asa Gordon shook his head. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but the last I heard, your grandfather was not doing very well. He's bedridden, and his doctors don't hold out much hope for his recovery."

"No!" Felicity cried, unwilling to accept the possibility that the grandfather she had only just learned about could be snatched from her so suddenly.

Asa did not bother to suggest that she might want to visit the old man. She would think of it soon enough herself, even though her husband would not like the idea, judging from his expression. Far better that the suggestion come from her than from Asa. "Is there anything else you'd like to know?" he asked, eager to be on his way.

"Yes," Josh said, rising to his feet. "What are you going to do now?"

Asa took the cue and rose also, not wanting to be at even the slightest disadvantage with Josh Logan. "I am going to telegraph Mr. Maxwell and tell him where his granddaughter is. After that my job is over."

Josh curled his hands into fists as he fought for control over his warring emotions. Part of him was happy for his wife, and grateful to see that beautiful face once more alight when once he had wondered if she would ever smile again. The other part of him was twisted in agony over the knowledge that Felicity-the woman he had chosen particularly because she had no one else in the world except him-now belonged to one of the richest men in America also. Her grandfather would want her back, too, the way his mother's family had wanted her back. Hadn't Gordon said that when Maxwell had sent for her the first time, it had been a demand?

Maxwell would demand her again, Josh knew. If he did, whom would she choose? Did Josh have a chance of holding her when all he had to offer was the sterile mockery of a marriage? When to offer her more might cause her death? And when Maxwell could offer her the world and more?