CHAPTER XXV.
ON THE TRACK.
"But why," questioned Al, "should Miss Hollingsworth lend herself to such a scheme?"
"For several reasons," Mr. Wattles replied. "In the first place, she is a woman who likes mischief for its own sake—there are such people, you know. Then, she is under the influence of Farley; that is a fact that I have known for a long time. That man can make her do almost anything he wishes."
"Is she in love with him?"
"Sometimes I have thought so, and sometimes I have thought she almost hated him. He seems to exercise a sort of hypnotic influence over her; that is the only way in which I can explain it."
"If she is in love with him," suggested Al, "it is rather strange, isn't it, that she should help him to abduct a rival?"
"Not when you consider everything. Remember that the woman has a grudge against you. You haven't forgotten that episode at the Boomville Opera House, have you? You were the indirect means of throwing her out of an engagement."
"That is so."
"You can depend upon it," went on the manager, "that the woman in the case—and in the carriage—was Miss Olga Hollingsworth. But we mustn't stand talking here any longer."
Mr. Wattles had observed that the stableman was listening to the dialogue with considerable interest.