“She got my secret far too easily,” he gloomily reflected, “and without paying the price.
“I wonder if she was playing me as a lone fish,” he pondered—and then a flash came to enlighten him.
“Could Elaine Willoughby fancy that the news of her plunging would leak out and ruin them?
“By heaven! She may have crossed this gigantic trade by secret orders to Endicott. Hathorn ruined, she may have no further use for me.
“And if the Lady of the Red Rose should ever speak I would be ruined, even held at arms length as I am.”
He shuddered under the curse of the burning words of that last telegram.
“She believes me a liar and traitor to her, and I will never dare to undeceive her.” He felt that he had missed the finest play of his life.
But the “special delivery” letter still stared him in the face. He carelessly tore it open and then a smile wreathed his lips.
“To meet Senator Alynton, Senator Garston, and Miss Katharine VanDyke Norreys at dinner.” He instantly wrote out and dispatched his acceptance. A glow of joy lit up his anxious face.
“I must get Justine at work soon on my secret lines. I see it all. These Senators are of the ‘Inner Guild,’ the true illuminati.