She resolved that it would never do to tell Raymond Challoner that John Dinsmore was alive, and had been in New York; and, furthermore, to acquaint him with the startling information that Jess had met and wedded John Dinsmore under the name of Mr. Moore.
She would keep all that from Raymond Challoner; what he did not know would not worry him.
And last, but by no means least, as soon as Jess was in a fit condition to be prevailed upon by argument, or persuasion, to keep the past a profound secret, and marry the man to whom she was engaged, to secure the Dinsmore millions from going to waste, it should be accomplished.
Queenie determined that if she could not wed John Dinsmore and secure his fortune one way, it should be done in another manner.
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE WAYS OF PROVIDENCE.
There was another thing of which Queenie was equally convinced, and that was that the safest place for Jess, for the present, was beneath her own roof. John Dinsmore would, of course, never dream of looking for her there.
She knew full well that he would not come near her home, therefore, she did not fear a meeting between Raymond Challoner and him.
Queenie was not surprised when Raymond Challoner presented himself at her home the following afternoon, impatient to know what progress she was making with her arguments to induce Jess to reconsider her dismissal of himself and his suit; and very anxious to have an interview with the girl.
“That will be impossible for the present,” declared Queenie; “for she has worked herself up into a state bordering almost on hysteria; indeed, she is so bad that I was obliged to call in a doctor to attend her, and his instructions were that she must be kept perfectly quiet; nothing whatever of an exciting nature must disturb her, or the result would be a serious case of brain fever.”
Raymond Challoner bit his lip with the most intense vexation.