en of
twenty had again entered his breast. There had been a time when he had
loved life, the world, the men about him; when he had looked pleasantly
into the faces of friends and strangers; when he had been ready to form
a new tie of comradeship and had no thought of hatred; when he had
credited other men with kindly feelings and honest hearts. That time
had come again.

Somewhere ahead of him Marc Lemarc was riding. Drennen did not think
unkindly of him. He realised that the hatred he had felt a few days
ago had been born of delirium and madness and jealousy. Ygerne sought
to retrieve the long lost Bellaire fortune; Lemarc's interests jumped
with hers in the matter. One had the map, the other the key; they must
work together. Lemarc was riding with the jingle of Drennen's money in
his pocket and Drennen was glad to think of it. He was helping Ygerne,
he was not sorry to help Lemarc at the same time. This morning he had
had one hundred thousand dollars! He smiled, then laughed aloud. One
hundred thousand dollars! Now he had fifty thousand; already he had
opened his hand and poured out fifty thousand dollars! That was the
old Drennen, the headlong, generous Drennen, the Drennen who took more
delight in giving than in spending, and no delight in selfishness. He
had done all that he could do to help wipe the stain from his father's
name; he had lifted a burden from his father's shoulders. While he
could not understand everything he knew that. And he had staked Lemarc.

Another man would have called for Lemarc's bills, have gone over them,
have moved slowly and with caution. That would not have been Drennen.
He gave forty thousand for his father's name; he placed ten thousand
where Ygerne could use it through Lemarc. He had fifty thousand left
and he felt that he had not done enough, that he had kept back too
much. True, the thought had flickered through his brain: "And suppose
that Lemarc should take the cash and let the credit go? Suppose that
he should be contented with the ten thousand dollar bird in his hand
and never mind the hypothetical Bellaire treasure bird in the bush?"
Well, then, it would be worth it to Ygerne; just for her to know what
sort Lemarc was. Drennen had more money than he needed; he had an
assured income from the newly rediscovered Golden Girl; there were
still other mines in the world for the man who could find them; and he
had merely done for Ygerne Bellaire the first thing s