real money in his
pockets, to see if he can't fix a deal with you."

"Me!" exclaimed the startled Barney again. His beady eyes glowed at her
ardently. "Gee, you know I wish I really was married to you, Maggie! If
I was, you bet money couldn't ever pry you loose from me!"

"Well, there's the whole lay-out, Barney. It's up to you to be my
grasping, bargaining, unloving husband for about an hour."

"I hadn't thought of myself in that part," he objected. "I'd figured
that we'd bring in a new man to be the husband. It's pretty dangerous
for me, my stringing Dick along all this while and then suddenly to
enter the act as your husband--and to take the money."

"Dangerous!" There was sudden contempt in her voice and in her eyes.
"So you're that kind of man, Barney--afraid! And afraid after my
telling Dick you were my husband, and his swallowing the thing without
a suspicion! Well, right this minute is when we call this deal off--and
every other deal!"

"Oh, don't be so quick with that temper of yours, Maggie! I merely said
it was dangerous. Of course I'll do it."

And then Barney asked, with a cunning he tried to hide: "But why did
you ask me to have Old Jimmie show up here right after me? We don't need
him."

"Just what's behind your saying that, Barney?" she demanded sharply.

He squirmed a little, then spoke the truth. "You don't love your father
any too much, and he doesn't love you any too much--I know that. He
needn't really know how much we take off Sherwood; if he wasn't here,
he'd have to take our word for what we got and we'd tell him we got
mighty little. Then the real money would be divided fifty-fifty between
just you and me."

"I may not love my father, but he's in this on the same basis as you
are, or I'm out of it," she declared. "I thought you might suggest
something like this; that's one reason I asked you to have him come.
Another reason--and this is something I forgot to tell you awhile
ago--when I broke down and confessed everything to Dick Sherwood, I told
Dick that Old Jimmie was really my guardian; and we both agreed that
he should be present as a witness to any agreement, and to protect my
interests. Still another reason is that since we had to work so fast,
the thing to do was to split the money on the spot in three ways, and
then each of us shoot off in a different direction to-night before any
bad luck had a chance to break. In fact, Barney, this present minute is
when you and I say our g