he
supreme argument had come to him; if for no other reason, he must ruin
Shandon to save his own daughter from her folly.

"Garth," he said quietly, his deep voice retaining no trace of the
emotion which had wracked him only an hour ago, "I am very glad that
you have come. I have been expecting you all day."

"I met Wayne," Garth said hastily, watching Leland anxiously. "He was
riding like the very devil. I never saw his face look as it did as he
shot by me. He had been over here?"

"Yes. I had a plain talk with him. I made it clear to him that he was
not again to set foot on my land."

"You didn't tell him--"

"I told him nothing! The man deserves no consideration at my hands.
It is not my affair to tell him." He paused a moment, bending his gaze
thoughtfully upon Conway's troubled face. "You have had time to think.
What are you going to do?"

Garth opened his lips to speak, hesitated and closed them without a
word. The air of uneasiness which he had brought with him into the
room grew more marked. He shifted a little in his chair. Leland,
watching him steadily, waited for him to speak.

"I don't know what to do," Conway blurted out finally. "You were so
sure all the time he'd never come back.--Now if I don't tell him all
about the mortgage and foreclosure there's chance on top of chance
he'll find it out himself before the nine months drag by. And then--"
He flashed a startled glance up at Leland's calm face. "He'd kill me!
What can I do?"

"You can keep your mouth shut," answered Martin tersely. "You still
have his power of attorney, haven't you?"

Garth nodded, his head down again, his fingers nervously busy with his
lip.

"Conway," Leland continued with quiet emphasis, his keen glance
watching for the effect of his words, "in sheer justice you have ten
times more right to be owner of the Bar L-M than that mad fool has.
You have slaved for over a year to make it what it is while he has been
squandering money you had to scrape to send him. Even while Arthur was
alive you were the actual manager. And now all that you have to do is
keep still and you can have the place for a very small fragment of what
it is worth. God knows I wouldn't put foot on it. There is nothing
that the law can touch you for; we have seen to that. Nor will you be
doing a dishonourable thing. It is sheer justice, Garth, that you and
I will be meting out to him."

Conway's cheeks flushed a little, his eyes bri