he eyes were behind me.
I got into the train. So did Eyes, and a friend with a long nose. Not
into my car, however, so I was able to skip out again as the train was
starting. Not a bad feat for a man of my age! I hope Eyes and Nose,
and any other features that may have been with them, travelled on
unsuspectingly. But I can't be sure. Instinct says they saw my trick
and trumped it.

"I oughtn't to have come here, bringing danger to your house, Mrs.
Donaldson. But I want to see Don, and I know he is afraid neither of man
nor devil--afraid of nothing in the world except one woman.

"As for her--well, what I'd heard hadn't prepossessed me in her favour.
I sacrificed her for the safety of my golden images and my talk with Don.
But the sound of your voice behind the shut door broke the picture I'd
made of that young woman. And when I saw you--well, Mrs. Donaldson, I've
already told you I don't intend to exert my influence over your husband,
though to do so was my principal object in coming. Even if I did, I
believe yours would prove stronger. But if I could count on all my old
power over him, I wouldn't use it now I have seen you.

"I adore myself, and--my specialties. But there must be an unselfish
streak in me which shows in moments like this. I respect and admire it.
You may treat Don like a dog, but he'd never be happy away from you. And
I am fool enough to want him to be happy. This kicked dog of yours,
madame, happens to be the finest fellow I ever knew or expect to know."

"You say I treat him like a dog!" cried Annesley, roused to anger.
"But how ought I to treat him? He came into my life in a way I thought
romantic as a fairy tale. It was a trick--a play got up to deceive me!
I knew nothing of his life; but because of the faith he inspired, I
believed in him. No one except himself could have broken that belief. I
would not have listened to a word against him. But when he thought I'd
discovered something, the whole story came out. If I hadn't loved him so
much to begin with, and put him on such a high pedestal, the fall
wouldn't have been so great--wouldn't have broken my heart in pieces."

"But Don gave up everything pleasant in his life, and came down here to
this God-forsaken ranch--a man like Michael Donaldson, with a few hundred
dollars where he'd had thousands--all for you," said Van Vreck, "and he's
had no thought except for you and the ranch for more than a year. Yet
apparently you haven't changed your opi