ainst the mantel-piece and smoked his cigarette. "The
devil you would, Jake!" he said again, in a tone so different that the
words might have been uttered in another language. "And why--if one be
permitted to ask?"

"I think you know why," Jake said.

"Oh, do I? You virtuous people are always the first to suspect evil."
Saltash spoke with deliberate cynicism. "And suppose the marriage is not
genuine--as you so politely hint--what then, my worthy Jake? What then?"

Jake faced him unwaveringly. "If not," he said, "she goes back with me."

Saltash's eyes suddenly flashed to his, but he did not alter his
position. "Sure of that?" he asked casually.

"Sure!" said Jake.

"And if I refuse to part with her? If she refuses to go?"

"Either way," said Jake immovably.

"And why?" Saltash straightened suddenly. "Tell me why! What in hell has
it got to do with you?"

"This," said Jake. "Just the fact that she's a girl needing protection
and that I--can give it."

"Are you so sure of that?" gibed Saltash. "I think you forget, don't you,
that I was her first protector? No one--not even Bunny--could have got
near her without my consent."

"She was your find right enough," Jake admitted. "I always knew
that--knew from the first you'd faked up a lie about her. But I hoped--I
even believed--that you were doing it for her sake--not your own."

"Well?" flung Saltash. "And if I was?"

"And if you were," said Jake, "it was a thing worth doing--worth sticking
to. Bunny is a respectable citizen. He'd have married her--made her
happy."

Saltash's mouth twisted. "Bunny had his chance--missed it," he said.
"He'll know better next time. I'm not troubling about Bunny. He didn't
deserve to win."

"And so you decided to play him a damn trick and cut him out?" said Jake.

Saltash snapped his fingers. "I did my best for him, but I couldn't push
him through against his will. Why didn't he come after her when he found
she had gone? Didn't he know where to look?"

"Just because he knew," said Jake.

Saltash moved abruptly. "Damnation! You shall have what you've come for.
If seeing is believing--then you shall believe--that even Charles
Burchester can protect a girl at a pinch from the snares of the
virtuous!" He pulled an envelope from an inner pocket, and flung it with
a passionate gesture upon the table in front of Jake.

Jake's eyes, red-brown and steady, marked the action and contemplated him
thereafter for several silent second