Page:The Master of Mysteries (1912).djvu/434

 wasn't it? I thought first that she might have gone down there to alter the date, and so make the old will valid."

"But, in that case, the marks of the erasure, even if done with Labarraque's solution or any of the readymade ink destroyers, would have proved that it had been tampered with."

"That's so. Well, I'll think it over. But do you know who this girl is, yet?"

"She's a friend of Paul Drellmont's, and no doubt his tool." Astro passed over the note he had found in the bag.

"I see. I'm to report to him, then, over the telephone, in her voice, that the thing has been done?"

"By no means. You're to tell him that you failed."

Valeska bent her brows over the riddle. "Well, I hope I won't have to go into details."

"No, he'll be satisfied. You see, this is his last card. If she failed, he'll not care to fight the will case any longer. He knows he's beaten, and he can't pay his lawyers. He'll offer to compromise, and I shall tell Van Asten to make a reasonable offer."

"The girl failed, then, in whatever she went for?"

"No, she succeeded."

"Then won't Drellmont find out about it, and make more trouble?"

"I hope he'll leave immediately. If he accepts a sum of money to compromise, I think he'll quit New York without delay."

"Oh! And you expect to keep this girl hidden away from him till then?"

"Exactly. This blizzard was a godsend for Van Asten and Miss Drellmont."