Remarkable Foresight of English Fortune
Hunter Who Weds Miss Meyrick To-Day
Took Out a Policy For Seventy-Five
Thousand Pounds With Lloyds.
Same to be Payable in Case the
Beautiful Heiress Suffered a
Change of Heart
Prominent on the page was a large photograph, which purported to be "An Exact Facsimile of the Policy." Mr. Meyrick examined it. He glanced through the story, which happened to be commendably brief. He told himself he must remain calm, avoid fireworks, think quickly. Laying the paper on his knee, he turned to the little white-garbed man beside him.
"What trick is this?" he asked sharply.
"It is no trick, sir," said Gonzale pleasantly. "It is the truth. That is a photograph of the policy."
Old Meyrick studied the cut again.
"I'll be damned," he remarked.
"I have no desire to annoy," Gonzale went on. "But—there are five thousand copies of to-day's Mail at the office ready to be distributed at a signal from me. Think, sir! Newsboys on the street with that story at the very moment when your daughter becomes Lady Harrowby."
"I see," said Meyrick slowly. "Blackmail."
Manuel Gonzale shuddered in horror.
"Oh, I beg of you," he protested. "That is hardly it. A business proposition, I should call it. It happens that the men back of the Star Publishing Company, which issues the Mail, have grown tired of the newspaper game in San Marco. They are desirous of closing out the plant at once—say this morning. It occurs to them that you might be very glad to purchase the Mail—before the next edition goes on the street."