"I don't like to be suspicious of the man, Bruxton, but he might have been trying to coax me up there while he was away — so I'd break into the place, just to find those envelopes."
"What then?" questioned Stuart, keenly interested in Hawthorne's theory.
"Well," said Hawthorne, "if I got nabbed, it would be bad for me. I'd be discredited up here in Greenhurst. My real-estate boom would go dead. Mayo would be the kingpin again."
There was more truth than theory in what Hawthorne said. Stuart remembered that battle with the Filipino. Had the man meant murder because he had thought Stuart to be Hawthorne?
Then came the recollection of the man in black who had been Stuart's rescuer. It made the mystery all the more perplexing. Stuart wisely said nothing to let Hawthorne know that he had gone to Mayo's in Hawthorne's stead. He began to feel a suspicion of Hawthorne.
Perhaps the real-estate man was doing the bluffing. Harry Vincent's note had said to stay with Mayo, if possible. Stuart realized that Hawthorne might be trying to involve him in a plot against Mayo.
"You're a good fellow, Bruxton," said Hawthorne. "I think you're a square-shooter. That's why I said what I did. I want to know if I stand all right with Mayo. That's all that I have in mind."
"All right," said Stuart; "if Mayo invites me, I'll stay." They were passing the stone pillars, and Stuart glanced from the window of the car. He saw no sign of the man in black tonight.
Nevertheless, he could not be sure that the man was not there. The strange being in the cloak seemed to have power to melt away before observant eyes.
Sherwood Mayo seemed pleased by the arrival of his visitors. He received them in his living room, and smiled when Stuart asked him about his trip to New York.