"Oh, no----"

"Didn't she do that with Ray Vilas?" he demanded quickly. "Wasn't
that exactly what she did the first time he ever came here--got
Laura to play and made him think it was _her_? Didn't she?"

"Oh--just in fun." Mrs. Madison's tone lacked conviction; she
turned, a little confusedly, from the glaring boy and fumbled
among the silver on the kitchen table. "Besides--she told him
afterward that it was Laura."

"He walked in on her one day when she was battin' away at the
piano herself with her back to the door. Then she pretended it had
been a joke, and he was so far gone by that time he didn't care.
He's crazy, anyway," added the youth, casually. "Who is this
Corliss?"

"He owns this house. His family were early settlers and used to be
very prominent, but they're all dead except this one. His mother
was a widow; she went abroad to live and took him with her when he
was about your age, and I don't think he's ever been back since."

"Did he use to live in this house?"

"No; an aunt of his did. She left it to him when she died, two
years ago. Your father was agent for her."

"You think this Corliss wants to sell it?"