Paul Quentin by Fred M. White — Read

Here, then, was another important discovery which bade fair to go a long way towards unravelling the tangled skein. Dugdale had almost expected some such reply. At any rate, he had hoped for it. The discovery entirely changed his point of view, but this did not discourage Dugdale in the least. At the same time, it started his mind upon another series of suspicions which later might bring Joseph Varna and Rachel into the net.

But as Dugdale stood thinking the matter over, and not hearing a single word that Lord Passmore said, he felt disinclined to believe that these two people were connected with the plot which Paul Quentin had on foot. Joseph Varna had impressed him as a highly respectable tradesman, and probably a wealthy one besides. During Dugdale's one brief visit to Varna's establishment, he had seen enough to convince him that Varna was doing business on a large scale with a very influential class of clients, and business, too, which bore a large margin of profit. If Varna was closely associated with ladies in position who desired to raise money on their family jewels, he was not in the least likely to identify himself with any scheme likely to bring him within the grip of the law. There were evidences, too, in Varna's shop that he was a man of private means, and Dugdale was sufficiently a man of the world not to judge by outward appearances. He knew that it was not the financial agent whose office was all glitter and expensive furniture who possessed the greatest capital. He had heard of more than one millionaire money-lender who transacted his business personally in a single room.