a that I'm
anxious for more elbow room." He glanced about him with an air of
dissatisfaction. "The business we're doing warrants something better
than this peanut stand!"

"I'm ready to buy your interest for ten times what you put in!" offered
his partner dryly. "Will you accept?"

"I will not." Jason stood up and clapped on his hat. "I must be off.
Sure you won't let me drive you home?" A shake of Varr's head answered
him. "Good night, then."

He left the office and was halfway to the stairs when a sudden thought
occurred to him and he retraced his steps.

"Say, Simon!"

"Well?"

[Transcriber's note: page 31 missing from source book]

[Transcriber's note: page 32 missing from source book]

ence of something important underlying the surface of this inquisition
and he paused a moment to reflect before continuing. "It was Langhorn
who left first. Mr. Graham stood still a while, lookin' in this
direction as if he still meant to come over, then he turned and headed
for town." A shrewd gleam lit the watchman's eye. "While he was
facin' this way it struck me that he was lookin' red and sort of angry."

"Ah!"

The monosyllable served at once to express Varr's perfect apprehension
of what had passed between the two men and to bring the present
conversation to a close. He took his leave, ignoring Nelson's polite
"good evening" after his usual custom, and strode swiftly off along the
short-cut by which he had come an hour or two earlier. Irritation
quickened his step no less than the threat of rain from the banking
clouds in the western sky.

So Jason had been right. Langhorn had overheard that portion of their
talk which concerned Graham and had promptly reported it to the man
most interested. Malicious, mischief-making little sneak! And of
course he had to walk smack into Graham just when he was in a mood to
make trouble and blow the consequences! With any luck he wouldn't have
encountered the other until resentment at the rebuff he had received
had cooled, and caution succeeded anger!

Varr was in the humor these days to find in this trivial contretemps
yet another example of the annoyances, large and small, to which he had
been subjected lately--so persistently indeed that he was coming to
believe himself the chosen target at which some malefic Providence had
elected to discharge every arrow of misfortune in its quiver.

Nothing seemed to go right any more; on the contrary, everything