elp you. He'd be a refining influence." The
mother's lip curled.

"How about you?"

"Me?"

"Isn't the--sort of life you are living becoming a bit tiresome? Aren't
you about fed up on uncertainties?" The object of these queries drew a
deep breath; her eyelids flickered, but she continued to stare at the
speaker. "Worry brings deeper wrinkles than old age. Wouldn't you like
to tie to something solid and be able to show Bennie that you are, at
heart, the sort of woman I consider you? He'll soon be getting old
enough to wonder if you are what he thinks you are or if--"

"I suppose you learned this--bayonet practice in the army," Mrs. Fulton
said, hoarsely.

"Anybody can make a good living in a country like this if he cares
enough to try. I'll back you if you need money."

"And--what's the price?"

"My price? Oh, I'd feel well repaid if some day Bennie acknowledged
that I was a 'regular guy,' and if you agreed."

"Is that all?"

"Quite all. Is there something you do--well?"

"I can cook. I'm a good cook. Women like me usually have hobbies they
never can follow--and I have two. I can make a fool of a stove, and
I--I can design children's clothes, wonderful things, new things--"

"Will you come to Wichita Falls and start a restaurant and make good
things to eat, if I supply the money and the customers?"

"_Will_ I?" The speaker's face had flushed, her eyes had begun to
sparkle. "Then it's a bargain," Gray declared, gayly. "Why, you'll get
rich, for it is the chance of a lifetime. I'll guarantee patronage;
I'll drum up trade if I have to turn sandwich man and ring a bell.
Leave the details to me."

Margie Fulton sank slowly into the nearest chair, regardless of the
fact that it was piled full of lacy, white, expensive things; her voice
quavered, broke, as she said: "Gee, Mr. Gray! I figured there must be
some decent men in the world, but--I never thought I'd meet one."

CHAPTER XXIII

In a long, relentless struggle between two men psychology may play a
part as important as in a campaign between two opposing armies, or so
at least Calvin Gray believed. That, in fact, was one of his pet
theories and from the first he had planned to test it. It was
characteristic of Henry Nelson, on the other hand, that he put no faith
whatever in "imponderables," hence Gray's reference to morale, on that
day of their first meeting, had amused him. Morale, indeed! As if a man
of his tough fiber could be affected by the mere