ckness, turn
over the leases, and the brewer will run the 'Valkyrie.' My one
hope and fear is Irma. If she pulls this off I'll fix her; yes,
I'll fix her!"

He drifted away into a land of dreams, a far-off land, where,
under the black shadows of the Norway firs, he could see the gleam
of white hands thrown up despairingly in the icy waters. It was a
fiend's prophecy of a nameless horror to come.

When Randall Clayton noticed the returning suavity of Manager Robert
Wade's demeanor on the days ensuing the abortive attempt to lure
the young cashier out West, he vowed to redouble his own crafty
policy of secret resistance. It all seemed so clear to him now.
"Wade and Ferris wish to conceal the marriage until the election
is over. I would be exposed, perhaps even here, to their deadly
resentment if I openly rebelled.

"But once that Jack Witherspoon is back, and Ferris anchored here,
Jack can go on and face old Worthington. I will affect ignorance,
and then a brief campaign of victory will put Irma in my arms."

Startled by Einstein's revelations, Randall Clayton had carefully
removed every scrap of his private papers from his apartments, and
his little fortune, his stocks and personal archives, were all safe
in a down-town Safe Deposit.

The address and all the details of the Trust were lying in a sealed
envelope in the safe of Jack Witherspoon's club, in Detroit, awaiting
that legal champion's return.

And so, his heart thrilled with the fear of losing the Hungarian
singer, Randall Clayton made friends with all in the office until
his friend and enemy should pass each other in New York City.

The business and social atmosphere had visibly cleared before the
day of the annual election came on.

Clayton's eyes were now fixed only on his friend Witherspoon,
whose steamer was now picking him up at Boulogne. The approach of
the Fourth of July, with a triple holiday--Saturday, Sunday and
Monday--caused Clayton to toil, early and late, in the vast annual
settlements of the end of the fiscal year. It was upon the basis
of the settlement of June 30th that the reports of July 1st, the
annual election, were to be made.

But one thought now filled Clayton's agitated heart.

It was Irma Gluyas' future. Her resolute policy of holding him off
had inflamed Clayton's lover ardor to an overmastering passion.

Gallant and loyal, he had taken her at her own word. The unconventional
artist life, her romantic early history, her