This man he
had involved in his conspiracy so completely and hopelessly from the
first interview that there was no retreat. He had risked his own life on
his judgment of character the day he made his first proposition. But his
estimate had proven correct. The fellow blustered and then accepted the
bribe and entered with enthusiasm into his service.
Through this clerk the wily director of the Federal Bureau of
Information was compelled now to communicate with Miss Van Lew. Socola
had secured his services in the nick of time. He had been an old friend
of the Van Lew family before the war, their people were distantly
related and no suspicion could attach to his visits to her house unless
made at an unusual hour.
It was nearly a year from the day he began his watch before Captain
Welford succeeded in connecting the stenographer in the Department of
State with the woman on Church Hill.
He had been quietly studying "Crazy Bet" for months. From the first he
had accused this woman of being a spy. The older men in the Department
laughed. Miss Van Lew was the standard joke of the amateurs who entered
the Service. The older men all knew that she was a harmless fool whose
mind had been unbalanced by her love for negroes and her abolition
ideas.
Pages:
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465