th of the
passion that blazed in his eyes. He revealed, for an instant to Corrigan
the wild, reckless untamed youth that knew no law save his own impulses,
and the big man's eyes widened with the revelation, though he gave no
other sign. He leaned back in his chair, smiling coldly, idly flecking a
bit of ash from his shirt where it had fallen from his cigar.

"I am prepared for a fight. You'll get plenty of it before you're
through--if you don't lie down and be good." There was malice in his look,
complacent consciousness of his power. More, there was an impulse to
reveal to this young man whom he intended to ruin, at least one of the
motives that was driving him. He yielded to the impulse.

"I'm going to tell you something. I think I would have let you out of this
deal, if you hadn't been so fresh. But you made a grand-stand play before
the girl I am going to marry. You showed off your horse to make a bid for
her favor. You paraded before her window in the car to attract her
attention. I saw you. You rode me down. You'll get no mercy. I'm going to
break you. I'm going to send you back to your father, Brandon, senior, in
worse condition than when you left, ten years ago." He sneered as Trevison
started and stepped on the floor, rigid.

"How did you recognize me?" Curiosity had dulled the young man's passion;
his tone was hoarse.

"How?" Corrigan laughed, mockingly. "Did you think you could repose any
confidence in a woman you have known only about a month? Did you think she
wouldn't tell me--her promised husband? She has told me--everything that
she succeeded in getting out of you. She is heart and soul with me in this
deal. She is ambitious. Do you think she would hesitate to sacrifice a
clod-hopper like you? She's very clever, Trevison; she's deep, and more
than a match for you in wits. Fight, if you like, you'll get no sympathy
there."

Trevison's faith in Miss Benham had received a shock; Corrigan's words had
not killed it, however.

"You're a liar!" he said.

Corrigan flushed, but smiled icily. "How many people know that you have
coal on your land, Trevison?"

He saw Trevison's hands clench, and he laughed in grim amusement. It
pleased him to see his enemy writhe and squirm before him; the grimness
came because of a mental picture, in his mind at this minute, of Trevison
confiding in the girl. He looked up, the smile freezing on his lips, for
within a foot of his chest was the muzzle of Trevison's pistol.