"It's a good thing to have more than one string to your bow," he thought. "Not but that my little game in getting hold of the child is likely to pay well. Harriet Vernon will find that I have the whip-hand of her. She must come to my terms, sooner or later."
At that very moment Harriet Vernon was embarking at Liverpool on a Cunard steamer. She had received the letter of her brother-in-law, and decided to answer it in person.
CHAPTER XXXV. DAN DISGUISES HIMSELF.
For several days Dan strolled about Harlem, using his eyes to good advantage. As a pretext he carried with him a few morning papers for sale. Armed with these he entered shops and saloons without exciting surprise or suspicion. But he discovered not a trace of the lost girl.
One day, as he was riding home in the Third avenue cars, there flashed upon his mind a conviction that he was on a wrong scent.
"Is it probable that the man who carried away Althea would give the right direction so that it could be overheard by a third party? No; it was probably meant as a blind, and I have been just fool enough to fall into the trap."
So Dan's eyes were partially opened.
Before the day was over they were wholly opened. He met John Hartley on Broadway toward the close of the afternoon.