ld as inexorably as the bond of love?

"Men--a lawyer or two--a referee--decided to remove a burden; but a
higher court has replaced it."

He came and stood directly before her:

"I dare not utter one word of love to you; I dare not touch you. What
chance is there for such a man as I?"

"No chance--for us," she whispered. "Go!"

For a second he stood motionless, then, swaying slightly, turned on his
heel.

And long after he had left the house she still stood there, eyes closed,
colourless lips set, her slender body quivering, racked with the first
fierce grief of a woman's love for a man.

CHAPTER XII

HER WAY

Neergard had already begun to make mistakes. The first was in thinking
that, among those whose only distinction was their wealth, his own
wealth permitted him the same insolence and ruthlessness that so
frequently characterised them.

Clever, vindictively patient, circumspect, and commercially competent as
he had been, his intelligence was not of a high order. The intelligent
never wilfully make enemies; Neergard made them gratuitously, cynically
kicking from under him the props he used in mounting the breach, and
which he fancied he no longer needed as a scaffolding now that he had
obtained a foothold on the outer wall. Thus he had sneeringly dispensed
with Gerald; thus he had shouldered Fane and Harmon out of his way when
they objected to the purchase of Neergard's acreage adjoining the
Siowitha preserve, and its incorporation as an integral portion of the
club tract; thus he was preparing to rid himself of Ruthven for another
reason. But he was not yet quite ready to spurn Ruthven, because he
wanted a little more out of him--just enough to place himself on a
secure footing among those of the younger set where Ruthven, as hack
cotillon leader, was regarded by the young with wide-eyed awe.

Why Neergard, who had forced himself into the Siowitha, ever came to
commit so gross a blunder as to dragoon, or even permit, the club to
acquire the acreage, the exploiting of which had threatened their
existence, is not very clear.

Once within the club he may have supposed himself perpetually safe, not
only because of his hold on Ruthven, but also because, back of his
unflagging persistence, back of his determination to shoulder and push
deep into the gilded, perfumed crush where purse-strings and morals were
loosened with every heave and twist in the panting struggle around the
raw gold altar--back