enough. The rich man would then drive a bargain with my supposed
husband, pay over a lot of money--after which Barney, Old Jimmie, and I
would disappear with our profits."

"Maggie!" he repeated, stupefied with his incredulous amazement. But the
unflinching gaze she held upon him convinced him she was speaking the
truth. "Then, if that was your game, why are you telling me now? Why
didn't you say 'yes' when I proposed a week ago? I would have fallen for
the game; you would have succeeded."

Not till that moment did Maggie realize the full truth; not till then
did she realize the solid influence Larry Brainard had been in the
background of her life all these months.

"I didn't go through with it because of Larry Brainard."

"Larry Brainard!" His astonishment increased. "You know Larry Brainard,
then?"

"I've known him for several years."

"And you've been coming out, and he's been pretending not to know you!
Of course I knew what Larry Brainard has been. But is he in this, too?"

"No. He's exactly what you think him. From the start he's been trying to
keep me out of this. He was behind my coming to your house; he's told me
so. His reason for getting me there was his belief that my being treated
by you and your sister as I was would make me ashamed of myself and
make me want to quit what I was doing. And I think--I think he was
right--partly."

"And Larry--he's the reason you're telling me now?"

"I think so. But there are other reasons." Making a clean breast of
things though she was, she felt she dared not trust Dick with the
secret of her father. "I--I wanted to clear things up as far as I was
responsible. That's one reason I'm telling you. There was the chance
you might sometime find out that Larry had known me and suspect him; I
wanted you to know the truth of what he'd really done. And I wanted to
tell you the truth about myself, so you'd despise and forget me, instead
of perhaps carrying around romantic delusions about me after I've
gone. And there's another reason. I'd like to tell you--for you've been
everything that's fine to me--if it won't offend you."

"Go on," he said huskily.

"Barney Palmer picked you out as the victim--you didn't know you were
being picked out--because he said that you were an easy mark. That you
took things for exactly what they pretended to be, and didn't care
what you did with your money. That you never would settle down into a
responsible person. I'm telling you all this