It was likely to prove of the utmost importance to Florence.
Her uncle’s displeasure was wholly based upon her refusal to marry Curtis Waring, but if it should be proved to him that Curtis was already a married man, there would seem no bar to reconciliation.
Moreover—and thas was particularly satisfactory—it would bring Curtis himself into disfavor.
Florence would be reinstated in her rightful place in her uncle’s family, and once more be recognized as heiress to at least a portion of his large fortune.
This last consideration might not weigh so much with Florence, but Dodger was more practical, and he wished to restore her to the social position which she had lost through the knavery of her cousin.
But in San Francisco—at a distance of over three thousand miles—Dodger felt at a loss how to act.
Even if Mr. Linden was informed that his nephew had a wife living in San Francisco, the statement would no doubt be denied by Curtis, who would brand the woman as an impudent adventuress.
“The absent are always in the wrong,” says a French proverb.
At all events, they are very much at a disadvantage, and therefore it seemed imperatively necessary, not only that Dodger, but that Curtis Waring’s wife should go to New York to confront the unprincipled man whose schemes had brought sorrow to so many.
It was easy to decide what plan was best, but how to carry it out presented a difficulty which seemed insurmountable.