This the intruders did, hoping that sooner or later their host would
observe their presence; but Harley lay in blissful unconsciousness of
their coming, and they finally grew weary of waiting.
[Picture: He went into one of his trances]
“He must be at work on a ten-volume novel,” said the Doctor. “Let’s go.”
And with that they departed. Night came on, and with it darkness, but
Harley never moved. The fact was he was going through an examination of
the human race to find a man good enough for Marguerite Andrews, and it
speaks volumes for the interest she had suddenly inspired in his breast
that it took him so long to find what he wanted.
Along about nine o’clock he gave a deep sigh and returned to earth.
“I guess I’ve got him,” he said, wearily, rubbing his forehead, which
began to ache a trifle. “I’ll model him after the Professor. He’s a
good fellow, moderately good-looking, has position, and certainly knows
something, as professors go. I doubt if he is imposing enough for the
American girl generally, but he’s the best I can get in the time at my
disposal.”
So the Professor was unconsciously slated for the office of hero; Mrs.
Willard was cast for chaperon, and the Doctor, in spite of Harley’s
previous resolve not to use him, was to be introduced for the comedy
element. The villain selected was the usual poverty-stricken foreigner
with a title and a passion for wealth, which a closer study of his
heroine showed Harley that Miss Andrews possessed; for on her way home
from the pier she took Mrs. Willard to the Amsterdam and treated her to a
luncheon which nothing short of a ten-dollar bill would pay for, after
which the two went shopping, replenishing Miss Andrews’s wardrobe—most of
which lay snugly stored in the hold of the _New York_, and momentarily
getting farther and farther away from its fair owner—in the course of
which tour Miss Andrews expended a sum which, had Harley possessed it,
would have made it unnecessary for him to write the book he had in mind
at all.
“It’s good she’s rich,” sighed Harley. “That will make it all the easier
to have her go to Newport and attract the Count.”
At the moment that Harley spoke these words to himself Mrs. Willard and
Marguerite, accompanied by Mr. Willard, entered the mansion of the latter
on Fifth Avenue. They had spent the afternoon and evening at the Andrews
apartment, arranging for its closing until the return of Mrs. Corwin.
Marguerite meanwhile was to be the guest of the Willards.
“Next week we’ll run up to Newport,” said Dorothy. “The house is ready,
and Bob is going for his cruise.”
Marguerite looked at her curiously for a moment.
“Did you intend to go there all along?” she asked.
“Yes—of course. Why do you ask?” returned Mrs. Willard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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