cco was
her pet aversion.

And yet the more he thought of the scene of their parting, the more
sickening became the conviction that her anger at his use of an ugly
word was merely a subterfuge to break their engagement. The perfidy and
cruelty of such an act was too hideous for belief--yet if the thing
were possible! He had left her to struggle alone with the first great
temptation of life, and he began to feel that it was cowardly. He
should have stood his ground and fought for his love.

He made up his mind to go at once and fight for his old place beside
her on any terms she would grant. He seized his hat and opened the
door. To his amazement Bivens was leisurely ascending the steps.

What on earth could he want? Was he making a social call without
announcement, as was the habit of his village days in the South? At
this moment Bivens was the last man he wished to encounter, yet a
meeting seemed inevitable. He stepped into the parlour and sat down
with resignation to await his entrance.

To his amazement he heard the maid say:

"This way, sir, Dr. Woodman asks you to wait for him in the library."

So Bivens was calling on his arch enemy by appointment. Stuart replaced
his hat on the rack and returned to his room, determined to await the
outcome of this extraordinary visit. That its significance was sinister
he couldn't doubt for a moment. Little could he dream how fateful for
his future life was the message the little dark man bore. Stuart closed
his door with a sensation of foreboding, sat down and tried to read.

On Dr. Woodman's entrance, Bivens rose to greet him with unusual
animation and unmistakable good will.

When the doctor grasped the outstretched hand a more striking contrast
could scarcely be imagined--the one big, bluff, jovial, sunny, powerful
and straight of figure as he was always straight in speech and
manners--the financier, small and weak in body, his movements sinuous,
flexible, with eyes that never looked at the man he was talking to, yet
always seemed to be taking in everything in the room--eyes unusually
dark, yet seemingly full of piercing light as from hidden fires
beneath.

"Well, Bivens, what can I do for you? I understand from your note that
the matter is important."

"Of the gravest importance to us both, Doctor," he answered with a
smile. "For a peculiar personal reason I want us to get together and
settle our differences."

"Are there any differences between us? You go your