Elizabeth, in moody silence, ran up the steps and went directly to her room. Mr. Dalken paid the owner of the launch and said in a tone that carried its own pointed meaning: “You comprehend that I am paying you for the hire of this craft until noon to-morrow?”
ELIZABETH, IN MOODY SILENCE, RAN UP THE STEPS.
“I get you, Boss,” returned the man, bowing seriously. “Anyway, even if you were not so generous in your pay, I have no likings for such passengers who know better but act like sots.”
“All right. Start back for Palm Beach. I’ll follow in your wake.” So saying Mr. Dalken stepped aboard his own craft and waved the owner of the launch to proceed northward on his return trip.
Mr. Ashby said not a word of explanation to the curious friends waiting on deck, but Mr. Dalken spoke freely as if they were entitled to the story.
“We found just about the sort of scene as I expected to see at that den. Those men in the party, easily ten years my senior, only used the hare-brained divorcee and the younger girls as a means to obtain their end—that of running my yacht to the place where they knew they could get all the vile liquor they craved. Once there, they never gave a thought as to how their companions might fare. Hence I took my girl and left them to work it out as they saw best. There is no trolley or other transportation method of leaving the place, other than by boat or automobile, and of the latter there was none to be hired. I may have been a bit severe on the other young women in the party, but they should have taken all favorable conditions into consideration before they consented to run away with another man’s valuable property, in order to satisfy an abnormal curiosity about a notorious locality. I am thankful to say that I have saved my property from the scandal which would be sure to follow on the heels of a scrape such as those men I saw at Satan’s Kitchen are certain to rouse at one of their orgies. Now, however, it will be necessary for me to return to Palm Beach and prove that my yacht and my friends were anchored at the wharf till morning, and that Elizabeth and I were at the hotel at the dance.”
Mr. Dalken excused himself after concluding his explanation, and went to his daughter’s room to escort her to the hotel.
The interested colored man who had given Mr. Dalken the valuable information regarding the men who had taken possession of the White Crest without the owner’s consent or knowledge, now watched curiously as Mr. Dalken and his daughter left the craft and walked in the direction of the hotel.
The crowds were already thinning out on the ball-room floor, but enough representatives of society still remained to dance to the last note of the orchestra. As fortune had it, one of Mr. Dalken’s well-known friends and his family was present and saw the financier as soon as he stepped upon the floor to dance with Elizabeth.