Alice looked at the solemn Henry, and a sense of peace suddenly filled her heart. The anxiety and vexation of the past few days largely vanished.
"Alright," Alice replied seriously, gazing into Henry's eyes.
Henry smiled contentedly, just about to say something, when a middle-aged maid came over to invite them back for dinner.
So the two walked back to the house side by side.
The dining room was spacious, with a dining table about 10 meters long and a round table that could comfortably seat 12 people.
Today, the round table was used. The hostess, Irene, had still not returned, but Alice's two younger brothers, Skye and Craig, were present.
One was 12 years old, and the other was 10.
Skye and Craig could already read newspapers, so they were full of curiosity about Henry, who was praised as unparalleled in the papers. Like Fiona, they occasionally asked Henry about his legendary experiences.
Besides answering the questions from the three curious children, Henry also told Marvin about his invitation for Alice to go on an outing tomorrow morning.
In those days, formally inviting a daughter from an upper-class family on an outing required parental consent.
These young ladies would only agree to go out with people they had close relationships with.
Their windows to interact with outsiders were very small, mainly relying on various balls and parties.
The balls and parties of that era served many functions. Besides being matchmaking events for adult young ladies, many people also sought opportunities to change their fate there, such as making connections, political and business dealings, power-for-money transactions, and even illicit affairs.
Balls were not only a lifestyle for the old aristocracy but also for the newly wealthy bourgeoisie.
Marvin agreed to Henry's invitation to Alice without any hesitation.
After dinner, it was past nine in the evening when Henry bid farewell. Before leaving, he handed the gun case to Alice—inside was an exquisite Colt Double Action Revolver 1877 pistol.
This type of pistol was very compact, suitable for women, and Henry had obtained it from the swindler-assassin Louis.
Back at the hotel, Henry rang the doorbell of Pete's room, also on the third floor, and then took him to his own room.
"Pete, you can take Mary to explore New York these days, but be careful not to go to the Lower District. For Midtown, it's best not to go south of 43rd Street, as those areas are rampant with dark forces," Henry instructed.
"Okay, when are we returning to Denver? Is there nothing else you need me to do these days?" Pete asked.
"We are expected to depart on August 1st. You can enjoy yourself these days. If you have time, you can visit Linda and the others more often. This is your subsidy for this business trip," Henry said, handing Pete a 10 us dollar bill.
"No need, you've already given me once, that's enough. Besides, Linda is my aunt, so it's only right to give her something," Pete shook his head, not taking it.
Henry took back the 10 us dollar bill, then took out a money pouch from his Arms, counted 20 five us dollar bills, stacked them together, and handed them to Pete.
"This 100 us dollar is a loan from me to you. Prices in New York are quite high. Don't let your and Mary's once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon have any regrets. You can pay back this 100 us dollar to me when you have extra income later."
"That's not good," Pete hesitated slightly.
"What's not good? Take it. If Mary asks, you can tell her directly. Trust me, this 100 us dollar will be nothing to you in the future. Don't leave any regrets for your honeymoon," Henry directly stuffed the money into Pete's hand.
"Alright, thank you, Henry," Pete put the banknotes into his money pouch.
"That's it then. Be careful, and if you truly encounter any accidents, just mention my name or have someone come back and tell me."
"Okay, good night, Henry," Pete said his goodbyes and left.
After Henry called a waiter to take his clothes for dry cleaning, he locked the door and began to review today's actions, finding no issues.
In the morning, he had also considered whether to immediately take a train to Chicago to wipe out the black market headquarters there.
However, the train transfer time plus the journey time would take at least 36 hours.
If Henry were to ride a horse from his spatial dimension, this wasn't the wild west, so it would be impossible to maintain such high-speed galloping in broad daylight. He would also need to navigate, and covering 800 miles would likely take nearly 30 hours.
Since a surprise attack was impossible anyway, he decided against it. The remaining forces of the New York black market shouldn't be able to cause much trouble these days.
Having finished his thoughts, Henry took out the intelligence on New York gangs and began to read it.
Meanwhile, in the underground dungeon of an apartment in the Lower District.
"Bang!"
A loud noise woke up a middle-aged man whose hands were tied behind his back to an iron pillar.
The triumphant Mazhar, while hitting an iron sheet table with a wooden stick, said, "Robert, do you think you can escape? I'll tell you something else: tomorrow, Rachel will also be arrested, hahaha."
Robert struggled to open his swollen eyelids and hoarsely asked, "Why? Mazhar, haven't I been good to you? We are both Irish, why did you conspire with others to frame me?"
"Hehehe, good to me? If you were good to me, why wouldn't you let Rachel interact with me more? In your eyes, I was just a useful and obedient dog," Mazhar sneered.
"You know I didn't have such thoughts. If it weren't for me back then, your family of five might have died," Robert said painfully.
"You saved us back then, but my father, my brother, and I have also been working for you for almost ten years! But what did we get? You eat, drink, and play every day, with a harmonious and happy family, while our family still lives in this muddy ditch in the Lower District. Otherwise, my mother and sister wouldn't have died of pneumonia," Mazhar said resentfully, then continued to ramble.
"I just spoke a few more words with Rachel, and you flew into a rage, so you were the one who didn't treat us as humans first. I advise you to obediently hand over the gold you've hidden. That way, I can tell the boss not to make Rachel entertain clients. From now on, she only needs to serve me."
"Haha, thank you. You've educated Rachel well. I will have five or six children with her, and you can consider yourself to have descendants. You wouldn't want Rachel to be ridden by thousands of men and then, after getting sick, be thrown into a stinking ditch like trash, would you?"
Robert closed his eyes, no longer looking at Mazhar's smug face, the petty man's triumph.
"Pfft!" Mazhar picked up the wooden stick and hit Robert on the back, though not with much force, purely to vent his anger.
"Just wait. Tomorrow you'll see Rachel. You have no choice," Mazhar coldly dropped a sentence and stepped out of the cell.
Mazhar walked up to the second floor and gently knocked on a door.
"Come in."
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