“When Milady finds that she was
been robbed, too, then look out for squalls,” was the parting admonition of the Doctor. It brought grave shadows to Vreeland’s face.
Harold Vreeland was startled when his dupe left him. For it now flashed over him that his evening cartes de visite had lately only elicited the same stereotyped answer: “Mrs. Willoughby is too unwell to see anyone.”
He had, however, “improved the shining hours” by a flank movement to the Hotel Savoy, where he had drifted far, very far, into the good graces of that sparkling heiress, Miss Katharine Norreys. And his daily welcome grew warmer with each visit. He was getting on famously.
Senator James Garston’s absence “on Washington visits,” with the usual trips of a busy money magnate from fever center to fever center of the golden whirlpool, had left the young man to “exploit” the many graces of the tall, willowy blonde. He had often mused over the possibility of an advantageous alliance. “Here is a woman, young, rich, and with a powerful Senatorial backing. I might even be able to get inside the ring. For now I hold the secret of a combination which no one dares avow. It would be my ruin, however, to use it until the time comes to rule or crush Mrs. Willoughby. She must be my ‘golden goose’—she alone—and, I must not kill her too soon.”
A long introspection proved to him that his old “waiting game” was the only safe plan.
“If Garston makes up to me, I can meet him half way. Perhaps he might exchange the secret of my sly patroness’ early life for the golden key to the Sugar situation. Together we could surely control her. And acting alone, I might easily be crushed between this secretly warring couple.
“But, when their dual secret is mine, then I can always act against my weakest foe. They will never dare get rid of me then,” he craftily premised, for he saw gold ahead—solid, easily earned gold. And the busy devil in his cold heart laughed and made merry.
But one circumstance now disquieted him as to the resplendent Miss Katharine VanDyke Norreys—the absence of a respectable, social womanly background.
There was no doubt as to the tangible luxury of her daily life, and the deep respect shown by the Hotel Savoy management spoke of that regular payment of bills which endears “the guest” to the Boniface.