ingly pleading his own
cause. But his passion excused him. When has a woman condemned a man for
loving her beyond the rules of fair play?

"Whatever you may decide," Donnegan was saying. "I shall be prepared to
stand by it without a murmur. Send Landis back to your father's house
and I submit: I leave The Corner and say farewell. But now, think
quickly. For Lord Nick is coming to receive your answer."

37

If the meeting between Lord Nick and Donnegan earlier that day had
wrought up the nerves of The Corner to the point of hysteria; if the
singular end of that meeting had piled mystery upon excitement; if the
appearance of Donnegan, sitting calmly at the table of the girl who was
known to be engaged to Nick, had further stimulated public curiosity,
the appearance of Lord Nick was now a crowning burden under which The
Corner staggered.

Yet not a man or a woman stirred from his chair, for everyone knew that
if the long-delayed battle between these two gunfighters was at length
to take place, neither bullet was apt to fly astray.

But what happened completed the wreck of The Corner's nerves, for Lord
Nick walked quietly across the floor and sat down with Nelly Lebrun and
his somber rival.

Oddly enough, he looked at Donnegan, not at the girl, and this token of
the beaten man decided her.

"Well?" said Lord Nick.

"I have decided," said the girl. "Landis should stay where he is."

Neither of the two men stirred hand or eye. But Lord Nick turned gray.
At length he rose and asked Donnegan, quietly, to step aside with him.
Seeing them together, the difference between their sizes was more
apparent: Donnegan seemed hardly larger than a child beside the splendid
bulk of Lord Nick. But she could not overhear their talk.

"You've won," said Lord Nick, "both Landis and Nelly. And--"

"Wait," broke in Donnegan eagerly. "Henry, I've persuaded Nelly to see
my side of the case, but that doesn't mean that she has turned from you
to--"

"Stop!" put in Lord Nick, between his teeth. "I've not come to argue
with you or ask advice or opinions. I've come to state facts. You've
crawled in between me and Nelly like a snake in the grass. Very well.
You're my brother. That keeps me from handling you. You've broken my
reputation just as I said you would do. The bouncer at the door looked
me in the eye and smiled when I came in."

He had to pause a little, breathing heavily, and avoiding Donnegan's
eyes. Finally he was able