o suddenly?"

Ward flushed. It was a sacred subject, but he resolved to be frank with
Mern, searching for the truth. "It was not sudden. I met her here in the
city by accident months ago--and I must have fallen in love with her
then. I've been admitting that I did, though I did not know her real
name till yesterday. And I did not know she was a detective, set on my
trail. And even now----"

"You don't believe it, eh? Let me say it to you, Latisan--and get me
right! You're a square chap and I can afford to be square, now that the
job is done and paid for. The girl never was an operative. She was my
confidential secretary, and the best one I ever had. Working hard here
to pay up the debts she had incurred on account of her mother. As clean
as a whistle, Latisan! She never told me she was going north. That
letter you brought is one I wrote after Crowley reported that she was
there--and I wanted to know why she was there."

"I can tell you why. She is Echford Flagg's granddaughter."

Mern leaped up and kicked the carpenter's bench away from him. Latisan
rose, too, as if prepared to resent any detracting speech.

"Don't trouble yourself," snapped Mern. "I'm not saying a word against
her for what she was doing up there. I trained her myself in what she
called the ethics of this business, and she had been practicing what I
have preached. It's all right, Latisan."

"The thing cleared itself up pretty quickly for me yesterday when I
found out her name. But now that I know who she is I'm in hell. I ran
away! I have left that drive----"

"Aw, to blazes with your drive!" yelped Mern, with scorn. "Only logs!
But what I want to know is this, does the girl love you?"

"She told me so, but how can she have any affection for such a man as I
have shown myself to be? I think she was sacrificing herself because she
believed I was the one who could bring down the Flagg drive."

Mern surveyed him cynically. "Say, Latisan, I hope you're not the kind
who would bite a gold coin stolen from a dead man's eye. You woods
fellows have too much time for joint debates with your own selves. Go
find that girl and square yourself. I want her to have what she wants,
if she is in love with you. That's the kind of a friend I am to her. I
can't tell you where she is. I haven't heard from her since she walked
out of this office. But let me say something to you! My kind of work has
wised me up to what folks are likely to do! I'll bet a thousand dollar