uality in
him, which distinguished him from any other man she had ever known, was
his complete unselfishness. In all his undertakings he coveted no reward
for himself; he was seeking only the common good.

"If all men were like you there would be no problems," she murmured,
and while he could not accept the words quite at par they rang very
pleasantly in his ears.

A movement among the diners reminded him of the flight of time, and
with a glance at his watch he sprang up in surprise. "I had no idea the
evening had gone!" he exclaimed. "I have just time to see you home and
get back to catch my train."

He called a taxi and accompanied her into it. They seated themselves
together, and the fragrance of her presence was very sweet about him.
It would have been so easy to forget--all that he had been trying to
forget--in the intoxication of such environment. Surely it was not
necessary that he should go west--that he should see HER again--in order
to be sure.

"Phyllis," he breathed, "do you imagine I could undertake these things
if I cared only for myself--if it were not that I longed for someone's
approval--for someone to be proud of me? The strongest man is weak
enough for that, and the strongest man is stronger when he knows that
the woman he loves--"

He would have taken her in his arms, but she resisted, gently, firmly.

"You have made me think too much of you, Dennison," she whispered.

CHAPTER XVI

On the way west Grant gradually unfolded his plan to Linder, who
accepted it with his customary stoicism.

"I'm not very strong for a scheme that hasn't got any profits in it,"
Linder confessed. "It doesn't sound human."

"I don't notice that you have ever figured very high in profits on your
own account," Grant retorted. "Your usefulness has been in making them
for other people. I suppose if I would let you help to swell my bank
account you would work for me for board and lodging, but as I refuse
to do that I shall have to pay you three times Transley's rate. I don't
know what he paid you, but I suspect that for every dollar you earned
for yourself you earned two for him, so I am going to base your scale
accordingly. You are to go on with the physical work at once; buy the
horses, tractors, machinery; break up the land, fence it, build the
houses and barns; in short, you are to superintend everything that is
done with muscle or its substitute. I will bring Murdoch out shortly to
take charge of the cleri