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Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips), 1866-1946

"A Millionaire of Yesterday"

He speaks of marriage with
contempt. Yet you say he will marry her - he, a millionaire! What
does it mean, Hiram?"
"The man, he is in my power," Da Souza says in a ponderous and
stealthy whisper. "I know something."
She rose and imprinted a solemn kiss upon his forehead. There was
something sacramental about the deliberate caress.
"Hiram," she said, "you are a wonderful man!"

CHAPTER XIV

Scarlett Trent spent the first part of the morning, to which he had
been looking forward so eagerly, alone in his study with locked door
to keep out all intruders. He had come face to face with the first
serious check in his career, and it had been dealt him too by the
one man whom, of all his associates, he disliked and despised. In
the half-open drawer by his side was the barrel of a loaded revolver.
He drew it out, laid it on the table before him, and regarded it
with moody, fascinated eyes. If only it could be safely done, if
only for one moment he could find himself face to face with Da Souza
in Bekwando village, where human life was cheap and the slaying of
a man an incident scarcely worth noting in the day's events! The
thing was easy enough there - here it was too risky. He thrust the
weapon back into the drawer with a sigh of regret, just as Da Souza
himself appeared upon the scene.


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