“I’ll tell you,” he answered, and then related the particulars of the meeting with Dan Baxter. When he concluded her face was very pale and her hands icy cold.
“Oh, Dick, would that—that monster carry her off and—and force mamma to marry him!” she moaned.
“I can’t answer that, Dora. But you’ll remember what a strange influence Crabtree used to exercise over her.”
“Yes! yes! But mamma was sickly then and her mind was weak. Now she is much stronger.”
“I think Crabtree is something of a hypnotist and mesmerist, and there is no telling what such a rascal will do when he sets out for it. He wants that fortune just as much as Sobber wants it. I think they are working this game between them.”
“But why would they take mamma away after they had the fortune?”
“Because the fortune is not all in gold. There is some very rare jewelry and precious stones. The thieves would have trouble in disposing of those things unless they had some semblance of a legal right to do so. If Mr. Crabtree was your mother’s husband he could take the jewelry and precious stones and sell them, and nobody would prosecute him.”
“Oh, Dick, what shall I do?”
“I don’t know that you can do anything, Dora. My advice is, that you go over and stay with the Lanings, and let us try to solve this mystery. We’ll do all we can, and we’ll make the authorities do all they can, too.”
“The Cedarville police are of no account—in a matter of such importance.”