“Marriage with someone else?” echoed the senator. He thought he had not heard aright, yet at the same time he had grave misgivings. “What do you mean, sir?”
Taking from his pocket a copy of the letter he had picked up on the staircase, Jefferson held it out to the girl's father.
“Your daughter is preparing to run away with my father's secretary. To-morrow would have been too late. That is why I summoned you. Read this.”
The senator took the letter, and as he read his face grew ashen and his hand trembled violently. At one blow all his ambitious projects for his daughter had been swept away. The inconsiderate act of a silly, thoughtless girl had spoiled the carefully laid plans of a lifetime. The only consolation which remained was that the calamity might have been still more serious. This timely warning had saved his family from perhaps an even greater scandal. He passed the letter in silence to Ryder, Sr.
The financier was a man of few words when the situation called for prompt action. After he had read the letter through, there was an ominous silence. Then he rang a bell. The butler appeared.
“Tell Mr. Bagley I want him.”
The man bowed and disappeared.
“Who the devil is this Bagley?” demanded the senator.
“English—blue blood—no money,” was Ryder's laconic answer.
“That's the only kind we seem to get over here,” growled the senator. “We furnish the money—they furnish the blood—damn his blue blood! I don't want any in mine.” Turning to Jefferson, he said: “Jefferson, whatever the motives that actuated you, I can only thank you for this warning. I think it would have broken my heart if my girl had gone away with that scoundrel. Of course, under the circumstances, I must abandon all idea of your becoming my son-in-law. I release you from all obligations you may have felt yourself bound by.”