id. "I
believe every word you have said. And yet, when you come to think of it
all, the situation doesn't seem to be so terribly alarming to me after
all. Why, for instance, do you fear those letters--this scoundrel
Lang's confession? Kill him. Let the letter come to Adare. Cannot
Josephine swear that she is innocent? Can she not have a story of her
own showing how foully Lang tried to blackmail her into a crime? Would
not Adare believe her word before that of a freebooter? And am I not
here to swear--that the child--was mine?"

There was almost a pitying look in the half-breed's eyes.

"M'sieur, what if in that letter were named people and places: the
hospital itself, the doctors, the record of birth? What if it contained
all those many things by which the master of Adare might trail back
easily to the truth? With those things in the letter would he not
investigate? And then--" He made a despairing gesture.

"I see," said Philip. Then he added, quickly "But could we not keep the
papers from Adare, Jean? Could we not watch for the messenger?"

"They are not fools, M'sieur. Such a thing would be easy--if they sent
a messenger with the papers. But they have guarded against that. Le
M'sieur is to be invited to Thoreau's. The letter will be given to him
there."

Philip began pacing back and forth, his head bowed in thought, his
hands deep in his pockets.

"They have planned it well--like very devils!" he exclaimed. "And
yet--even now I see a flaw. Is Lang's threat merely a threat? Would he,
after all, actually have the letter given to Adare? If these letters
are his trump cards, why did he try to have him killed? Would not
Adare's death rob him of his greatest power?"

"In a way, M'sieur. And yet with Le M'sieur gone, both Josephine and
Miriam would be still more hopelessly in his clutches. For I know that
he had planned to kill me after the master. My brother had not guessed
that. And then the women would be alone. Holy Heaven, I cannot see the
end of crime that might come of that! Even though they escaped him to
go back to civilization, they would be still more in his power there."

Philip's face was upturned to the stars. He laughed, but there was no
mirth in the laugh. And then he faced Jean again, and his eyes were
filled with the merciless gleam that came into those of the wolf-beasts
back in the pit.

"It is the big fight then, Jean. But, before that, just one question
more. All of this trouble might have