human
I received your letter while preparing to leave for Cleverdale. From it I learned you have not changed your intention concerning Alden. You still mean to get rid of him?
gpt
Yes, he must be put out of the way, for since his promotion he is more obnoxious to me than ever. No time must be lost, for he is a more frequent visitor at my house than before. He must be dropped as soon as possible.
human
Draw your chair closer to mine: we must speak low and be guarded. You ask what I have to suggest. My plan is this: Sargent, you say, will do anything you desire: well, is he a good penman, and can he imitate handwriting?
gpt
Yes, he is an expert at that business.
human
Good! now for it. He must alter the bank books, and make it appear that Alden has embezzled five thousand dollars.
gpt
Great God!
human
Don't start, Senator; it is a desperate game, but it's often been played successfully. You say you shall get him out of the way at all hazards: well, this plan will effectually dispose of the ambitious young man.
gpt
Suppose he shows fight?
human
He must be allowed to run away. You can work that up. The affair can be kept between yourself, Sargent, and Alden, and when the latter is exposed you can feign sympathy, telling him if he will leave at once the affair will remain a secret. Yes, you can even offer to loan him the money to pay the deficiency. Make the evidence so strong against him that he cannot possibly see a way of escape, and if I know anything of human nature he will run away rather than be exposed.
gpt
Suppose he should first see my daughter, and she should advise him to remain and face the danger.
human
It must be done when she is absent from home. You must find some pretence to send your wife and daughter on a visit to friends, or else send them to New York.
gpt
You are a shrewd fellow, Mannis, and no mistake.
human
A shrewd rogue, you mean.
gpt
No, I do not. In this affair I am but doing the duty that a father owes to his child. She is in danger of being sacrificed to an adventurer who only wants her father's money. But she shall be saved.
human
Now my case does not seem as desperate as it did.
gpt
I don't like this affair at all, but I am losing heavily, and the ventures I have lately made have turned out bad. Mannis' fortune added to my own will save me from disaster. Poor Belle must be temporarily made unhappy, but when she finds herself the wife of Hon. Walter Mannis perhaps she will thank me for saving her.