But this was not likely to occur. He knew his own
persistency to equal Hazen's. Nothing should stop the momentary interview
he had promised himself.
Ah! A well-known whirr and clatter is heard. The automobile was leaving
the stable. Hazen was already in it and the man who had come up from New
York was with him. This was bad; they would flash by--No; he would not be
balked thus. Stepping out into the road, he stopped full in the glare of
the office lights and held up his hand. They could not but see him and
they did. The chauffeur reversed the lever and the machine stopped to
the accompaniment of low muttered oaths from Hazen, which were rather
disagreeable than otherwise to Harper's ear.
"One word," said he, approaching to the side where Hazen sat. "I thought
you ought to know before leaving that we can take no proceedings in the
matter we were speaking of till we have undisputed proof that your sister
is dead. That we may not get for a long time, possibly never. If you are
interested in having this Auchincloss receive his inheritance, you had
better prepare both yourself and him for a long wait. The river seems
slow to give up its dead."
The quiver of impatience which had shaken Hazen at the first word had
settled into a strange rigidity.
"One moment," he said in a command to the chauffeur at his side.
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