He instructed Harker to obtain a written guarantee of the genuineness of
the picture, and Wilfer, being half intoxicated at the time, for once
forgot his usual caution, and gave the required pledge. With that in his
possession, Jasper Vermont had Wilfer in his power, and only left him
undisturbed because he saw no present opportunity of using him.
But when he wanted him he knew that he had only to exert the authority
which the warrant gave him, and Johann Wilfer would be his obedient
servant, as many better men were already.
The picture he intended--through Mr. Harker--to compel one of the firm's
wealthy clients to take as part of a loan, a well-known trick of the
worst class of moneylenders.
Quite unconscious of the sword that hung over him, Mr. Wilfer, after a
bout of hard drinking, went home, and it was in his drunken frenzy that
he had struck Jessica. She, bruised and frightened, fled into the
streets, where Adrien Leroy found her.
Left to himself--for his wife was away for a day or two--Mr. Wilfer fell
into a deep slumber, in which he remained for the rest of the evening.
Early for him, on the following morning he was roused by a loud knocking
at his front door.
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