u have secreted Tia Juana; I want
an interview with her. If she, of her own volition, refers me to you
as I anticipate and gives you power of attorney to act for her, we can
perhaps come to an agreement which will be to our mutual advantage."

"That sounds interesting," Willa remarked. "What makes you think I
know where Tia Juana is?"

"I thought we had done with pretense?" he reminded her. "I know of the
little house on the Parkway, and the beautiful rich young lady who
hired it and installed the fierce old Spanish woman and the hunchback
there. I know, too, of their hasty departure, and all that happened
before in Mexico. You played a very shrewd game, my dear Miss
Murdaugh, but your disinterested charity toward Tia Juana is open to
question; a legal question, perhaps, if it comes to that, involving
undue influence and a dummy title."

"Assuming that I know what you are talking about, don't you think you
are taking a great deal for granted?" asked Willa. "I do not admit
that I know where Tia Juana is, but in the event that you discover her,
what assurance have you that she will receive you? There is a strain
of Indian in her blood as well as Spanish. She does not forget, and do
you think your treatment of Jose would inspire her with any confidence
in your good faith or with any desire to deal with you except in
retribution?"

"Nevertheless, she is the principal I intend to interview. You give me
no credentials as her authorized agent, and whether she cares to deal
with me or not is a matter I mean to put to the test. It lies between
her and me, and I fancy I shall have no difficulty in opening her eyes
to much that will be to her advantage, to which she has been kept
heretofore in the dark."

"Would you, if you could? I doubt it. However, by all means make your
proposition to her when you have found her, Mr. Wiley. That's the
first thing, isn't it? You can't hazard your bet until you have picked
your number, can you?" Whimsically, she imitated the croupier's
sing-song whine "Make your play, gentlemen! The wheel is about to
spin!"

"You vixen!" he muttered wrathfully. Then he controlled himself with
an almost visible effort and half turned in his saddle. "Will you
permit me to give you a bit of purely disinterested advice? Don't go
in for the financial game on your own; you are bound to lose. In your
proper sphere you are invincible, but it is a social one. When you pit
yourself against men