atulate him," he promised. Turning to
Mrs. Van Tyle, "Shall we say this evening?" he added.

"You're not afraid to venture yourself into the hands of the enemy,"
drawled that young woman, her indolent eyes daring him.

Again he studiously included them both in his answer. "I'm afraid all
right, but I'm not going to let you know it. Did I hear you set a time?"

"If you are really willing to take the risk we shall be glad to see you
this afternoon."

James observed that Alice Frome did not second her cousin's invitation.
He temporized.

"Oh, this afternoon! I have an engagement, but I am tempted to forget it
in remembering a subsequent one."

His smiling gaze passed to Alice and gave her another chance. Still she
did not speak.

"The way to treat a temptation is to yield to it," the older cousin
sparkled.

"In order to be done with it, I suppose. Very well. I yield to mine.
This afternoon I will have the pleasure of calling at The Brakes."

Alice nodded a curt good-bye, but her cousin offered him a beautifully
gloved hand to shake. A delightful tingle of triumph warmed him. The
daughter of Big Joe Powers, the grim gray pirate who worked the levers
of the great Transcontinental Railroad system, had taken pains to be
nice to him. The only fly in the ointment of his self-satisfaction had
been Alice Frome's reticence.

Why had she not shown any desire to have him call? He could guess at one
reason. The campaign for the legislature and the subsequent battle for
the senatorship had been bitter. Charges of corruption had been flung
broadcast. A dozen detectives had been hired to get evidence on one side
or the other. If he were seen going to The Brakes just now fifty rumors
might be flying inside of the hour.

His guess was a good one. Alice drove the car forward several blocks
without speaking, Valencia Van Tyle watching with good-humored contempt
the little frown that rested on her cousin's candid face.

"I perceive that my uncompromising cousin is moved to protest," she
suggested placidly.

"You ought not to have asked him, Val. It isn't fair to him or to
father," answered Alice promptly. "People will talk. They will say
father is trying to influence him unfairly. I wish you hadn't asked him
till this fight is over."

"My dear Nora, does it matter in the least what people say?" yawned
Valencia behind her hand.

"Not to you because you consider yourself above criticism. But it
matters to me that two honest