eting him.

Larssen said aloud to his secretary: "Show her up when I ring next."

Then to Matheson: "There's no need to 'phone. Your wife is waiting
below."

Sylvester left the room.

As the shipowner's hand hovered over the button of the electric bell,
waiting for a yes or no from his antagonist, a great temptation lay
before Matheson.

The recital of the events of the past three weeks, as given in the
brutal wording of the shipowner, had torn at his nerves like the pincers
of an inquisitor. He saw now how the world would judge the relations
between Elaine and himself. The change of name, the meeting at the same
hotel at Arles, the second meeting, the companionship of that fateful
week at Nimes--the world would put only one interpretation on it all.
Elaine, lying helpless in her close-curtained room at the nursing home
in Wiesbaden, would be fouled with the imaginings of the prurient. Not
only had he brought blindness to her, but now he was to bring her to the
pillory with the scarlet letter fixed upon her.

Yet he could avoid it if he chose. A choice lay open to him. Larssen
would be ready to exchange silence for silence. If Matheson would stand
aside and let the Hudson Bay scheme go through, no doubt Larssen would
play fair in the matter of Elaine. That in effect was what he offered as
his hand hovered over the electric bell.

The shipowner, though an easy smile of triumph masked his feelings as he
lay back in his chair, knew that he was at the critical point of his
career. If Matheson decided to let Olive be shown in, then Olive would
have in her hands the judgment between the two men. To be dependent on a
woman's mood, a woman's whim, would be Larssen's position. It galled him
to the quick. The seconds that slipped by while Matheson considered
were minute-long to him.

If only Matheson would weaken and propose compromise!

Larssen uttered no word of persuasion one way or another. He knew that,
if his desire could be attained, it would be attained through silence.

Presently Matheson stirred in his chair.

"Ring!" said he firmly.

The fight had begun again.

Larssen pressed the bell without a moment's hesitation. His bluff had to
be carried through with absolute decisiveness. He could not gauge how
far his threat of the divorce court had intimidated Matheson. Beyond
that, he was not at all sure that Olive would side with him in the
matter. She was unstable, unreliable.

But on the outside no trace