"Now, promissory notes are dangerous instruments should a holder desire to use them dangerously. Mr. Inglesby could give Eustis an extension of time, or he could demand full payment and immediately foreclose. You see, it's entirely optional with Mr. Inglesby." And he leaned back in his chair, perfectly self-possessed, entirely at his ease, and waited for her to speak.
"You could do that—anybody could do that—to my father?" she was only half-convinced.
"I assure you we can send him under—with a lot of other men's money tied around his neck to keep him down."
"But even you would hesitate to do a thing like that!"
"All is fair," said Hunter, "in love and war."
"Fair?"
"Legitimate, then."
"But if he is in Mr. Inglesby's way and in his power at the same time, why not remove him in the ordinary course of business? Why drag in me and my letters?"
"Why? Because it's the letters that enable us to reach you. My dear girl, Mr. Inglesby doesn't really give a hang whether Eustis sinks or swims. He'd as lief back him as not, for in the long run it's good business to back a winner. But it's you he's playing for, and on that count all is fish that comes to his net. Now do you begin to see?"
Mary Virginia began to see. She looked at the unruffled man before her a bit wonderingly.