Larry's face was gray. Guilt is always quick to hold up its hands when
it thinks the enemy has the drop on it.

"Can't you understand?" he whispered through dry lips. "I want to
outwit them. I'm as keen as you, Maclin, and I'm working for you, old
man, working for you! I was going to take this to her--she'll do
anything when she reads that--and I was going to tell her why the old
man stood by me. That would shut her mouth and make her pay."

There is in the shield of every man a weak spot. There was one in the
shield of Maclin's brutal villainy. For a moment he felt positively
virtuous; perhaps the sensation proved the embryo virtue in all.

"Are any of these things real?" he asked with a rough catch in his
voice; "and don't lie to me--it wouldn't be healthy."

"No."

"You got your wife by letting her think your old father wanted it,
wrote about it?"

"Yes. I had to outwit them some way. I was just free and couldn't
choose. They had no right to cut me out."

"Well, by God, you _are_ a rotter, Rivers." The lines at which
criminals balk are confusing. "And she never guessed?"

"No, she'd never seen Father's writing in letters."

Then Maclin's outraged virtue took a curious turn.

"And you never cared for her after you got her?"

"I might have if she'd been the right sort--but she's as hard as flint,
Maclin. A man can't stand her sort and keep his own self-respect."

Maclin indulged in a weak laugh at this and Larry's face burned.

"I might have gone straight if she'd been square, but she wasn't. A
man can't put up with her type. And now--well! She ought to pay now."

Maclin was gripping the loose sheets in his fat, greasy hands.

"Hold on there." Larry pointed. "You're getting them creased and
dirty!"

Again Maclin laughed.

"I'll leave enough copy," he muttered. Then he fixed his little eyes
on his prey while his fat neck wrinkled in the back. His emotion of
virtue flickered and died, he was the alert man of business once more.
"I told you after you got out of prison, Rivers, that I'd never stand
for any more of that counterfeiting stuff. It's too risky, and the
talent can be put to better purpose. I've stood by you, I like you,
and I need you. When we all pony up you'll get your share--I mean when
we build up the Forest, you'll have a fat berth, but you've got to
play a card now for me and play it damn quick. Here, take this gem of
yours"--he tossed Larry's latest production to him--"and go to yo