me."

"Mr. Donnegan, upon my honor, I never heard your name before my daughter
uttered it."

Donnegan waited soberly.

"I despise charlatanry as much as the next man. You shall see the steps
by which I judged you. When you entered the room I threw a strong light
upon you. You did not blanch; you immediately walked straight into the
shaft of light although you could not see a foot before you."

"And that proved?"

"A combative instinct, and coolness; not the sort of brute
vindictiveness that fights for a rage, for a cool-minded love of
conflict. Is that clear?"

Donnegan shrugged his shoulders.

"And above all, I need a fighter. Then I watched your eyes and your
hands. The first were direct and yet they were alert. And your hands
were perfectly steady."

"Qualifications for a fighter, eh?"

"Do you wish further proof?"

"Well?"

"What of the fight to the death which you went through this same night?"

Donnegan started. It was a small movement, that flinching, and he
covered it by continuing the upward gesture of his hand to his coat; he
drew out tobacco and cigarette papers and commenced to roll his smoke.
Looking up, he saw that the eyes of Colonel Macon were smiling, although
his face was grave.

A glint of understanding passed between the two men, but not a spoken
word.

"I assure you, there was no death tonight," said Donnegan at length.

"Tush! Of course not! But the tear on the shoulder of your coat--ah,
that is too smooth edged for a tear, too long for the bite of a
scissors. Am I right? Tush! Not a word!"

The colonel beamed with an almost tender pride, and Donnegan, knowing
that the fat man looked upon him as a murderer, newly come from a
death, considered the beaming face and thought many things in silence.

"So it was easy to see that in coolness, courage, fighting instinct,
skill, you were probably what I want. Yet something more than all these
qualifications is necessary for the task which lies ahead of you."

"You pile up the bad features, eh?"

"To entice you, Donnegan. For one man, paint a rosy beginning, and once
under way he will manage the hard parts. For you, show you the hard
shell and you will trust it contains the choice flesh. I was saying,
that I waited to see other qualities in you; qualities of the judgment.
And suddenly you flashed upon me a single glance; I felt it clash
against my willpower. I felt your look go past my guard like a rapier
slipping around my blade. I