On July first, Slade had reported in person that his operators who were trailing the quarry had--in the night--discovered in one of his pockets a maple leaf wrapped in a fine linen handkerchief marked "C. J. F." Flint, recognizing his daughter's initials, well-nigh burst a blood-vessel for wrath.

But he instructed Slade not to have the handkerchief abstracted from Armstrong's possession.

By no sign or hint must the victim be made aware that he was being spied upon.

When the final blow should fall, then (reflected the Billionaire, with devilish satisfaction) all scores would be paid in full, and more than paid.
July third, then, found Gabriel at Rochester, now seventy-five or eighty miles from Niagara Falls, his goal, where--he had already heard--ground was being actually broken for the huge new power plant of which he alone, of all outsiders, understood the meaning.

Gabriel counted on spending the Fourth at Rochester where a Socialist picnic and celebration had been arranged.