doesn't want to put him on his
guard, you mean?"

"Just exactly that, Dolly. You see, if Mr. Holmes thinks we don't
suspect him, it's possible that he may betray himself in some fashion.
He'll feel sure that this man John hasn't betrayed him, and if he
thinks we don't know anything about the part he had in this kidnapping
plan, he may try to do something, else that will get him into serious
trouble.

"And we've got to move very slowly and very carefully, because it's
quite plain that he has a lot of friends at Hamilton and that they
won't believe anything against him, no matter how serious it may be,
unless they get absolute proof."

"Oh, I do hope Mr. Jamieson will be able to catch him this time! I'd
feel ever so much better about Bessie and Zara if I knew that they
didn't need to be afraid of him any longer."

"So would I, Dolly, and so would Mr. Jamieson. It's this man who is
worrying us more than all the other enemies Bessie and Zara have, put
together."

"Because he's so rich?"

"Partly that, and because he's so clever, too. And if all I hear about
him is true, the more he is beaten, the more dangerous he becomes. He
doesn't like to be beaten, and it makes him so angry that he takes all
sorts of chances, and does the wildest, most desperate things to get
even. They say he was very unfair to a lot of small shopkeepers in the
city when he was building up his big store."

"How do you mean, Miss Eleanor?"

"Why, he did everything he could to make them sell out to him for a
small price, and, if they wouldn't do it, he did his best to ruin their
business. He would circulate false stories about them, and he used his
influence with the police and the city authorities to make all sorts of
trouble for them.

"Then he would open a store next door to them, sometimes, and sell
everything they did cheaper, at a loss, so that people would stop
buying from them. You see, he could afford to lose money doing that,
because he knew that if he once got them out of the way, he could put
prices up again, and get his money back."

"You didn't know all that the day after Zara was taken away, did you,
Miss Eleanor?" asked Bessie. "Don't you remember how you laughed at me
then for saying I didn't like him, and that I thought he might be mixed
up in Zara's disappearance?"

"Yes, I do remember it very well, Bessie. I've often thought what a
good thing it was that your eyes were so sharp, and that you suspected
him ev