ght thing at enormous cost, and he was paying for it, instead of being
paid. Virtue had struck her usual hard bargain with her votaries. She
had taken all he had to give, and then sent in a bill for damages.

He was not in the least aware that he was unhappy, and often, for five
or ten minutes at a time, he would forget Claire; afterward he would
remember her, and that was worse. The unfortunate part of being made all
of a piece is that if you happen to want anything, there is really no
fiber of your being that doesn't want it.

Winn loved in the same spirit that he rode and he always rode to a
finish. In these circumstances and in this frame of mind, the Cresta
occurred to Winn in the light of a direct inspiration. No one could ride
the Cresta with any other preoccupation.

Winn knew that he oughtn't to do it; he remembered Dr. Gurnet's advice,
and it put an edge to his intention. If he couldn't have what he wanted,
there would be a minor satisfaction in doing what he oughtn't. The
homely adage of cutting off your nose to spite your face had never been
questioned by the Staines family. They looked upon a nose as there
chiefly for that purpose. It was a last resource to be drawn upon, when
the noses of others appeared to be out of reach.

There were, however, a few preliminary difficulties. No one was allowed
to ride the Cresta without practice, and it was a part of Winn's plan
not to be bothered with gradual stages. Only one man had ever been known
to start riding the Cresta from Church Leap without previous trials, and
his evidence was unobtainable as he was unfortunately killed during the
experiment. Since this adventure a stout Swiss peasant had been placed
to guard the approaches to the run. Winn walked up to him during the
dinner-hour, when he knew the valley was freest from possible intruders.

"I want you to clear off," he said to the man, offering him five francs,
and pointing in the direction of St. Moritz. The peasant shook his head,
retaining the five francs, and opening the palm of his other hand. Winn
placed a further contribution in it and said firmly:

"Now if you don't go I shall knock you down." He shook his fist to
reinforce the feebleness of his alien speech. The Swiss peasant stepped
off the path hurriedly into a snow-drift. He was a reasonable man, and
he did not grasp why one mad Englishman should wish to be killed, nor,
for the matter of that, why others equally mad, should wish to prevent
i