“There is Justine always to be pacified, and that brute, Helms, too; he will surely want money.
“Once married, and a fixture here, I am ‘nailed to the cross’ for torture by these people—if they should turn against me.
“Fear will control Doctor Alberg at the last,” reflected Vreeland. “He has been guilty of half-poisoning his patient.
“Justine I can surely rely on as long as I keep her pacified, but, that brute Helms is steadily increasing in his money demands. Some night, when drunk, he may blow the whole thing abroad.” And he had caught a glimpse of Helms and Bagley diving into a saloon together. It frightened him.
It was true that Helms had found his way down several times to the Elmleaf to get money, in a half-fawning and half-threatening bluster.
And on several occasions when Vreeland was absent, the grave-faced valet, Bagley, had joined the janitor, and in some hours spent over the cups of Gambrinus had gained pointers which had given the lively roundsman, Dan Daly, some very valuable hints.
There was in his cup of “bittersweet,” however, one great consolation to the successful Harold Vreeland, whom all men now envied.
The impending union with Katharine Norreys would found his fortunes on a solid basis; he would have the absolute protection of the great speculative Senator, and the reports of his detectives told him that Hugh Conyers was simply buried in his journalistic duties. It seemed to be a lull in the war, even the pickets had ceased firing.
There were no conferences with Judge Hiram Endicott, and nothing to indicate any activity among Romaine Garland’s friends.
Only one side of the whole affair remained dark to Vreeland. Even Justine Duprez could not tell him how or why Elaine Willoughby had openly taken her unacknowledged daughter to her house for shelter.