A diligent search was instituted, and many inquiries made for the body of the missing girl; but all to no purpose—some one had taken care of it—every victim had been identified by friends and taken away.
The Mannings were overwhelmed with grief, and Mr. Hubbard was finally forced to return to New York, also very much disturbed by the mystery which seemed to shroud the fate of his late ward.
Two months passed, during which the plans of the wily schemer—the chief obstacles having been removed—progressed to his entire satisfaction.
His application to the courts for the recognition of Mrs. Adam Brewster and Miss Anna Brewster, as the only lawful heirs of the late banker, had been granted, and their claims established, notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Charles Manning had come forward to contest them, on behalf of his wife, who, he asserted, was the niece of Mr. Brewster, and his only living relative. He utterly repudiated the story regarding that gentleman’s early marriage and subsequent separation from the woman in question.
But his claim was overruled, in view of the preponderance of evidence upon the other side. The old love-letters, the marriage-certificate, the certified copy of the record of the transaction, together with quite a sensational story regarding the early married life of the couple, their occasional disputes, which finally ended in a violent quarrel and separation, all having been very cleverly arranged and sustained, were considered proof positive that the widow and her daughter were the only legal heirs, and the case was very shortly decided in their favor.
Of course, it created a great deal of sensation and gossip, but, like all other affairs of a similar nature, it had its “nine days’” run, and was then forgotten in the excitement pertaining to some newer scandal.
A few days after the decision of the court was rendered, Miss Anna Brewster became Mrs. John Hubbard. Mrs. Adam Brewster was handsomely pensioned off, and luxuriously settled in an up-town apartment, where she was to live at her ease, while the newly wedded couple were traveling in Europe, and the “Brewster Case” was supposed to be finally settled.
Of all these happenings, however, Gerald, as yet, knew nothing, for, shortly after Allison’s departure for Newport, Mr. Lyttleton had been again suddenly summoned abroad, by his sister, to discuss some new feature which had unexpectedly arisen in connection with the lawsuit which he was conducting for her.
Gerald and Allison had agreed to continue their correspondence as heretofore, but he did not hear from her once before he left. This, although a disappointment to him, did not trouble him, especially as he attributed it to the confusion and many cares incident upon opening the villa and getting settled for the summer.