d and trying to find any
one was, as Alderson informed Butler on hearing of its character,
exceedingly difficult. It involved the right of search, which was
difficult to get. To enter by sheer force was easy enough in most
instances where the business conducted was in contradistinction to the
moral sentiment of the community; but sometimes one encountered violent
opposition from the tenants themselves. It might be so in this case. The
only sure way of avoiding such opposition would be to take the woman
who ran the place into one's confidence, and by paying her sufficiently
insure silence. "But I do not advise that in this instance," Alderson
had told Butler, "for I believe this woman is particularly friendly
to your man. It might be better, in spite of the risk, to take it by
surprise." To do that, he explained, it would be necessary to have at
least three men in addition to the leader--perhaps four, who, once one
man had been able to make his entrance into the hallway, on the door
being opened in response to a ring, would appear quickly and enter with
and sustain him. Quickness of search was the next thing--the prompt
opening of all doors. The servants, if any, would have to be overpowered
and silenced in some way. Money sometimes did this; force accomplished
it at other times. Then one of the detectives simulating a servant
could tap gently at the different doors--Butler and the others standing
by--and in case a face appeared identify it or not, as the case might
be. If the door was not opened and the room was not empty, it could
eventually be forced. The house was one of a solid block, so that there
was no chance of escape save by the front and rear doors, which were
to be safe-guarded. It was a daringly conceived scheme. In spite of all
this, secrecy in the matter of removing Aileen was to be preserved.

When Butler heard of this he was nervous about the whole terrible
procedure. He thought once that without going to the house he would
merely talk to his daughter declaring that he knew and that she could
not possibly deny it. He would then give her her choice between going
to Europe or going to a reformatory. But a sense of the raw brutality of
Aileen's disposition, and something essentially coarse in himself, made
him eventually adopt the other method. He ordered Alderson to perfect
his plan, and once he found Aileen or Cowperwood entering the house to
inform him quickly. He would then drive there, and with the assi