-- when ? '' cried the girl , amazed . `` Here , and now . '' `` Do n't take my breath away ; tell me quick , or I shall get hysterical . '' `` Casimer is Sigismund Palsdorf , and no more a Pole than I am , '' was Helen 's answer . Amy dropped in a heap on the floor , not fainting , but so amazed she had neither strength nor breath left . Sitting by her , Helen rapidly went on , -- `` I had a feeling as if something was wrong , and began to watch . The feeling grew , but I discovered nothing till to-day . It will make you laugh , it was so unromantic . As I looked over uncle 's things when the laundress brought them this afternoon , I found a collar that was not his . It was marked 'S . P. , ' and I at once felt a great desire to know who owned it . The woman was waiting for her money , and I asked her . ` Monsieur Pologne , ' she said , for his name is too much for her . She took it into his room , and that was the end of it . '' `` But it may be another name ; the initials only a coincidence , '' faltered Amy , looking frightened . `` No , dear , it is n't ; there is more to come . Little Roserl came crying through the hall an hour ago , and I asked what the trouble was . She showed me a prettily-bound prayer-book which she had taken from the Pole 's room to play with , and had been ordered by her mother to carry back . I looked into it ; no name , but the same coat-of-arms as the glove and the handkerchief .
To-night as he played I examined his hands ; they are peculiar , and some of the peculiarities have XXXXX traces on the glove .
Amy Casimer Helen Palsdorf Pole Pologne Roserl laundress left prayer-book