“I believe he will recover after all. He was taken to a sanitarium a few days ago. He is a wreck at present, and it will be some time before he recovers his grip again, if he ever does.”
“And that rascally bookkeeper that struck him down has not been arrested?”
“No. The police have not been able to locate his whereabouts. He may have fled to Canada. Probably he is hiding out in the wilderness somewhere.”
“Possibly; but you can’t tell. There are hiding places in this city where, by the aid of confederates, he could lie low in comparative safety. You know he was working in the interests of the Jarrett, Palmer & Carrington clique at the start, and but for you taking hold his crime would have proved of enormous advantage to them. Doesn’t it strike you, then, that they haven’t deserted him—that his immunity from arrest is largely due to their influence and pull with their political friends?”
“I didn’t think of that,” replied Vance thoughtfully. “Your idea is reasonable, I am bound to admit.”
“Some day you may find I have hit the mark,” said Bradhurst significantly.
That the millionaire was correct in his deduction Vance Thornton had reason to know ere many hours passed over his head.
While Bessie’s admiration for Vance now increased daily as she saw how he controlled the vast business enterprise he had called into action, still, as he seemed to drift farther and farther away from her—for he had little time now to talk to her, except upon cold matters of business—her gentle, loving heart grew sore and despondent within her.
She felt that she had lost something that might never again be hers.
And the reflection grieved her to the depths of her nature.