ife to correspond."

"Well, here we are, and here we'll stay," said Mr. Robinson, "till the
will and all the business is settled. Perhaps you'll say you didn't
even know there was a will."

Garrison was beginning to see light, dimly. What it was that lay
behind Dorothy's intentions and her scheme he could not know; he was
only aware that to-night, stealing a glance at her sweet but worried
face, and realizing faintly that she was greatly beset with troubles,
his whole heart entered the conflict, willingly, to help her through to
the end.

"You are right for once," he answered his inquisitor. "I have known
absolutely nothing of any will affecting Dorothy, and I know nothing
now. I only know you can rely upon me to fight her battles to the full
extent of my ability and strength."

"What nonsense! You don't know!" exclaimed Mr. Robinson. "Why----"

"It's the truth," interrupted Dorothy. "I have told him nothing about
it."

"I don't believe it!" said her uncle. "But whatever he knows, I'll
tell him this, that I propose to fight that will, day and night, before
my brother's property shall go to any scheming stranger!"

Garrison felt the need for enlightenment. It was hardly fair to expect
him to struggle in the dark. He looked at his watch ostentatiously.

"I did not come here expecting this sort of reception," he said
truthfully. "I hoped at least for a few minutes' time with Dorothy,
alone."

"To cook up further stories, I presume," said Mr. Robinson, who made no
move to depart.

Garrison rose and approached Mr. Robinson precisely as he might have
done had his right been more than a fiction.

"Do you require Dorothy to go down in the hall, in her own house, to
obtain a moment of privacy?" he demanded. "We might as well understand
the situation first as last."

It was a half-frightened look, full of craft and hatred, that Robinson
cast upward to his face. He fidgeted, then rose from his seat.

"Come, my dear," he said to his wife, "the persecutions have commenced."

He led the way from the room to another apartment, his wife obediently
following at his heels. The door they left ajar.

CHAPTER IV

UNSPOKEN ANTAGONISM

Garrison crossed the room with an active stride and closed the door
firmly.

Dorothy was pale when he turned. She, too, was standing.

"You can see that I've got to be posted a little," he said quietly.
"To err has not ceased to be human."

"You have made no mista