“In short, the price is too high.  What I want is to secure Caroline Smith from the inside.  I want you to go to her, to persuade her to go away with you on a trip.  Take her to the Bermudas, or to Havana—­any place you please.  The moment the Westerner thinks his lady is running away from him of her own volition he’ll throw up his hands and curse his luck and go home.  They have that sort of pride on the other side of the Rockies.  Will you go back tonight, right now, and persuade Caroline to go with you?”

She bowed her head under the shock of it.  Ronicky Doone had begged her to send Caroline Smith to meet her lover.  Now the counterattack followed.

“Do you think she’d listen?”

“Yes, tell her that the one thing that will save the head of Bill Gregg is for her to go away, otherwise I’ll wipe the fool off the map.  Better still, tell her that Gregg of his own free will has left New York and given up the chase.  Tell her you want to console her with a trip.  She’ll be sad and glad and flattered, all in the same moment, and go along with you without a word.  Will you try, Ruth?”

“I suppose you would have Bill Gregg removed—­if he continued a nuisance?”

“Not a shadow of a doubt.  Will you do your best?”

She rose.  “Yes,” said the girl.  Then she managed to smile at him.  “Of course I’ll do my best.  I’ll go back right now.”

He took her arm to the door of the room.  “Thank Heaven,” he said, “that I have one person in whom I can trust without question—­one who needs no bribing or rewards, but works to please me.  Good-by, my dear.”

He watched her down the hall and then turned and went through room after room to the rear of the house.  There he rapped on a door in a peculiar manner.  It was opened at once, and Harry Morgan appeared before him.

“A rush job, Harry,” he said.  “A little shadowing.”

Harry jerked his cap lower over his eyes.  “Gimme the smell of the trail, I’m ready,” he said.

“Ruth Tolliver has just left the house.  Follow her.  She’ll probably go home.  She’ll probably talk with Caroline Smith.  Find a way of listening.  If you hear anything that seems wrong to you—­anything about Caroline leaving the house alone, for instance, telephone to me at once.  Now go and work, as you never worked for me before.”

Chapter Twenty-three

Caroline takes Command

Ruth left the gaming house of Frederic Fernand entirely convinced that she must do as John Mark had told her—­work for him as she had never worked before.  The determination made her go home to Beekman Place as fast as a taxicab would whirl her along.