Helen was about to bid her
friend good-night when her remark regarding Mr. Stanlock's happy
personal faculties opened the discussion as here recorded. She
hesitated a few moments before answering the last inquiry; then she
said:
"Don't you think that those men intended to kidnap your father? What
other explanation can you find for their actions?"
"I hadn't tried to figure out their motive," Marion replied
thoughtfully. "Father called it a hold-up and I took his word for it."
"But he had no money with him, did he?"
"No, I think not. He seldom carries much money."
"And it is hardly reasonable to suppose that this plot between the
chauffeur and the two highwaymen was for the purpose of murder. They
would have gone about it in some other way. This one leaves too many
traces behind."
"Yes," Marion admitted.
"Well, the only reasonable conclusion you can reach with the robbery
and murder motives out of the way, is that the plotters wished to take
your father prisoner and hold him some place until they got what they
wanted."
"But what did they want?" asked the bewildered Marion.
"That's for your father to suspect and the police to find out," said
Helen shrewdly.
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