“Why,” Charles Sabin asked, “didn’t you tell me about this before, Richard?”
“I wanted to wait until Mr. Mason was here.”
Mason turned to Mrs. Sabin. “How about it, Mrs. Sabin? Is this correct?” he asked.
“This is Waid’s party,” she said. “Let him go ahead with the entertainment. He’s played his first number, now let’s have an encore.”
“Fortunately,” Waid said, “I insisted on the money being paid in the presence of witnesses. I thought that perhaps she was getting ready to pull one of her fast ones.”
“Let’s see the certified copy of the decree of divorce,” Mason said.
Waid took from his pocket a folded paper.
“You should have delivered this to me,” Charles Sabin said.
“I’m sorry,” Waid apologized, “but Mr. Sabin’s instructions were that I was to keep the decree of divorce and deliver it to no one except himself. I was not, under any circumstances, to mention it to anyone. The nature of the business which took me to New York was to be so confidential that no one, save his New York counselors, was to know anything about it. He particularly cautioned me against saying anything to you. I realize now, of course, that the situation is changed. Either you or Mrs. Sabin is going to be in charge of the entire estate, and my employment — if it continues — is going to be subject to your instructions.
“Mrs. Sabin has taken particular pains to tell me that she’s going to be in the saddle and that if I say anything to anybody, I’ll suffer for it.”