rd from her since the?--or from Barney or
Old Jimmie?"

The Duchess shook her head. "Do you mind telling me what happened that
night--and what Maggie's doing?"

Larry told her of the scene in Maggie's suite at the Grantham, told of
the plan in which Maggie was involved and of his own added predicament.
This last the Duchess seemingly ignored.

"Just about what I supposed she was doing," she said. "And you tried
again to get her to give it up?"

"Yes."

"And she refused?"

"Yes." And he added: "Refused more emphatically than before."

The Duchess studied him a long moment. Then: "You're not trying to make
her give that up just because you think she's worth saving. You like her
a lot, Larry?"

"I love her," Larry admitted.

"I'm sorry about that, Larry." There was real emotion in the old voice
now. "I've told you that you're all I've got left. And now that
you've at last started right, I want everything to go right with you.
Everything! And Maggie will never help things go right with you. Your
love for her can only mean misery and misfortune. You can't change her."

Larry came out with the questions he had asked himself so frequently
these last days. "But why did her manner change so when she heard Barney
and the others? Why did she help me escape?"

"That was because, deep down, she really loves you. That's the worst
part of it: you both love each other." The Duchess slowly nodded her
head. "You both love each other. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't care
what you tried to do. But I tell you again you can't change her. She's
too sure of herself. She'll always try to make you go _her way_--and if
you don't, you'll never get a smile from her. And because you love each
other, I'm afraid you'll give in and go her way. That's what I'm afraid
of. Won't you just cut her out of your life, Larry?"

It had been a prodigiously long speech for the Duchess. And Larry
realized that the emotion behind it was a thousand times what showed in
the thin voice of the bent, gestureless figure.

"For your sake I'm sorry, grandmother. But I can't."

"Then it's only fair to tell you, Larry," she said in a more composed
tone which expressed a finality of decision, "that if there's ever
anything I can do to stop this, I'll do it. For she's bad for you--what
with her stiff spirit--and the ideas Old Jimmie has put into her--and
the way Old Jimmie has brought her up. I'll stop things if I can."

Larry made no reply. The Duchess cont