"What do you say to getting married when we reach Albany?" went on the swindler. "Then we can return to your home and demand that your uncle make a settlement."
"I shall do as you think best, Lancelot. I know I can trust you," she answered.
"This is the safest snap yet!" thought Nick Smithers. "Once I get hold of her money I can hold her right under my thumb. She has been kept in such seclusion that she knows absolutely nothing of the world at large. And such a beauty, too! Nick, for once you have certainly struck it rich!"
CHAPTER XXIX
THE CAPTURE OF NICK SMITHERS
During the next half-hour Nick Smithers and the young lady became very confidential. She stated that she had just fifty dollars with her, but did not show the money.
"My uncle is a strange man in some things," she said. "He keeps not less than ten thousand dollars of my money in the house, and all in dollar bills!"
"He certainly must be strange," said Nick Smithers. "Well, it will be an easy matter for him to turn over the bills to you."
"Yes, Lancelot; but you will have to take care of the money for me."