tes."

I whistled. "Gee! Fifty thousand. Woods must have asked her for it
because he knew you were after him."

"It's open warfare now. I told the bank I knew what the money was for
and that it would cause no inconvenience to me to have them hold up the
loan for a few days. In fact I asked Sherwood, the cashier, to wait
until he saw me before making the loan."

Just then the telephone rang. Jim answered it.

"Hello--Yes--Woods?--Where are you now?" He listened a moment. "I
understand--Eight-thirty promptly?--I'll be there--Yes, I
understand--I'll be there."

He hung up the receiver and looked at me with twinkling eyes.

"The shoe is beginning to pinch, Bupps. That was Woods. He asks me to
meet him alone this evening at the country-club, at eight-thirty
promptly. Says he wants to see me urgently on business that concerns
us both."

"Did he ask you to come alone?"

"Yes. He distinctly said that I was to come alone and be prompt."

"Jim," I argued, "you can't go out there alone to meet that man. It's
too infernally dangerous."

"There's no danger, Bupps; but I'm not going alone. Helen is going
with me."

He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a leather
portfolio, into which he put all the letters and telegrams that were
scattered about his desk.

"I'm going to prove to Helen, in his presence, what kind of man he is;
that he loves her only for the money I gave her, and to save his yellow
hide. I'm going to tear out of her heart all the affection she ever
had for him. I think, after that, she will not only come back to me,
but she will love me all the more for having known Frank Woods. No
matter how badly a leg or an arm may be shattered, a quick, clean
operation may cause the parts to grow together again, stronger than
they were before. I think I win, Bupps."

"Still, I believe you ought to carry a gun, in case he gets nasty."

"I will, if you like," he responded; "but I won't use it, no matter
what happens."

I left the office, vaguely disquieted with the thought of Jim going out
to the club to face a man as dangerous and desperate as Frank Woods.
When a fellow of his standing sees the penitentiary looming up in his
foreground he's capable of anything. Helen, herself, in the crazed
condition I had seen her the other night, was an added element of
danger. I didn't like the looks of the situation any way I turned.

I climbed into my car and drove slowly through the wet