"Yes, sir. Tom has gone to Boston. Two of them are with him. He suspects nothing."
"They will let me know by long distance if anything happens."
"If anything! Great Scott! isn't it enough that--Let me hear what they report--on the instant!"
McWayne, his face full of sincere solicitude, prompted, gently:
It was the first time he had ever used that word. It made his speech so friendly, so affectionately personal, that E. H. Merriwether said:
"Thank you, McWayne. I wish you would find out for me at once who lives in 777 Fifth Avenue."
"Yes, sir," said McWayne. "That's where--" He caught himself. .
"I am afraid so!" acquiesced the railroad czar, listlessly.
Within an hour McWayne walked into the private office. His chief closed his jaws--a weaker man would have clenched his fists--in anticipation.
"Breese & Silliman, the real-estate men, say they rented 777 Fifth Avenue, furnished, to a Madam Calderon--an American woman, widow of a Peruvian nitrate king. She came up here and asked Breese about a suitable location. She has a daughter she wishes to marry in America. She talked quite freely about her affairs. The house was for sale, but she leased if, furnished, with privilege of purchase. Belongs to the Martin-Schwenk Construction Company. The daughter is about thirty, dark, Spanish-looking, and fleshy; rather--er--inclined to make googoo eyes, as Breese says, in a kind of foreign way."
"Mrs. Calderon said point-blank that she wished her daughter to marry a nice young man of wealth and position, preferably a blond. I gather that the agents were rather anxious to let the house and probably encouraged her. She has paid quarterly in advance, and her banking references are O. K.; but nothing about her personally is known to any one. That's all I could get."
The private secretary stood beside the desk, hesitated, and presently walked out. Shortly afterward, the great and ruthless E. H. Merriwether, full of perplexity and regret--and some remorse over his neglect of his only son for so many years--went uptown. He desired to know what to expect, in order to be able to think intelligently, and, therefore, to fight efficiently. How could he fight--not knowing what or whom to fight?
He told the chauffeur to wait, and then rang the bell of 777.