ustomed place directly in the line of its fall. His detectives had
found the location of the encounter and they had gone to the bottom of
the cliff, a thousand feet below, but they had not been able to find any
trace of Oka Sayye. Somewhere in waiting there had been confederates who
had removed what remained of him. On the way home Mrs. Whiting said to
her husband: "Judge, are you very sure that what the cook said to you
this afternoon about Miss Strong and Mr. Morrison is true?"

"I am only sure of its truth so far as he is concerned," replied the
Judge. "What he thought about Linda was evident. I am very sorry. She is
a mighty fine girl and I think Donald is very much interested in her."

"Yes, I think so, too," said Donald's mother. "Interested; but he has
not even a case of first love. He is interested for the same reason you
would be or I would be, because she is intellectually so stimulating.
And you have to take into consideration the fact that in two or three
years more she will be ready for marriage and a home of her own, and
Donald will still be in school with his worldly experience and his
business education not yet begun. The best thing that can happen to
Donald is just to let his infatuation for her die a natural death, with
the quiet assistance of his family."

The Judge's face reddened slightly.

"Well, I would like mighty well to have her in the family," he said.
"She's a corking fine girl. She would make a fine mother of fine men. I
haven't a doubt but that with the power of his personality and the power
of his pen and the lure of propinquity, Peter Morrison will win her, but
I hate it. It's the best chance the boy ever will have."

And then Louise spoke up softly.

"Donald hasn't any chance, Dad," she said quietly, "and he never did
have. I have met Peter Morrison myself and I would be only too glad if
I thought he was devoted to me. I'll grant that Linda Strong is a fine
girl, but when she wakes up to the worth of Peter Morrison and to a
realization of what other women would be glad to be to him, she will
merely reach out and lay possessive hands upon what already belongs to
her."

It was a curious thing that such occurrences as the death of Oka Sayye
and the injury to Donald could take place and no one know about them.
Yet the papers were silent on the subject and so were the courts. Linda
and Katy were fully protected. The confederates of Oka Sayye for reasons
of their own preferred to keep