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I doubt whether he would be called wealthy at all, either by the standards of his own people or of ours. As for Miss Ballister, I have reports which prove she has no source of income except a modest allowance from her brother, the senator, who is in moderate circumstances only; yet it is common talk about Washington that she is extravagant beyond her means.
There were only five or six guests from out of town, and of these Mme. Josephine Ybanca, wife of the great South American diplomat, and Miss Evelyn Ballister, sister of the distinguished Western statesman, were by odds the handsomest. Of women there were more than men; there usually are more women than men in evidence at such affairs. At about ten o'clock, Mrs.
With one hand slipped inside the curve of the other's elbow Miss Smith hurried her to the study door masked beneath the broad stairs, and opening it, ushered her into the inner room. It contained an occupant: a smallish man with mild-looking gray eyes, who at their entrance rose up from where he sat, staring steadily at them. At sight of the unexpected stranger Miss Ballister halted.
Hadley-Smith, to-morrow night has no influence upon you in forming your judgments of these two young women." "I know Miss Ballister has been invited and has accepted. But I think you must be wrong when you say Madame Ybanca is also expected." "When was the last time you saw your cousin?" "The day before yesterday, I think it was, but only for a few minutes."
"Oh, I'm utterly in the dark," said Miss Ballister. "I can't see a thing." "Are you all hooded?" called Miss Smith. A chorus of assents went up. "Good! Then listen a moment: It will be Madame Ybanca's task to catch hold of some one of you with her hands fastened as they are behind her. It is your task to keep out of her way; the bells are to warn you of her approach.
"You must help Miss Ballister and me to play a joke on the others. You are to keep the bells rattling after we are gone. See? This way." With that she shifted the leathern loop from about Miss Ballister's neck and replaced it over Mrs. Hadley-Smith's head which bent forward to receive it. Smiling in appreciation of the proposed hoax the widow took a step or two.
But I imagine, when you make inquiry, as of course you will do at once, you'll find that since you saw your cousin she has seen Goldsborough, or Geltmann to give him his real name and that he asked her to send the wire to Madame Ybanca." "That being assumed as correct, the weight of the proof would seem to press upon the madame rather than upon Miss Ballister, wouldn't it?" "Frankly I don't know.
Apparently she caught a finger in the chain and before she could free it she had given a sharp tug at the chain, thereby lifting the locket from where it rested against the white flesh of its wearer's throat. "I I'm afraid I can't play," Miss Ballister almost gasped out the words; then drawing in her breath with a sharp catch: "This room it's so warm. I feel a bit faint, really I do.
Josephine Ybanca, the wife of the famous South American diplomat, or else she is Miss Evelyn Ballister, sister of United States Senator Hector Ballister. And I am pretty sure that you must know both of them." "I do! I do! I know Miss Ballister fairly well, and I have met Madame Ybanca twice once here in New York, once at Washington.
I felt pretty sure that you would be going to her party. And I am morally sure that at the party Geltmann means to meet his confederate Miss Ballister or Madame Ybanca, as the case may be and to receive from her the bit of paper that means so much to him and to those he is serving in the capacity of a paid agent.
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