ome for a showdown!"

Hedin's voice rasped harsh, and McNabb noticed that the younger man's
fists were clenched as he laid a restraining hand upon his arm. "Take
it easy lad," he said. "Maybe it's better we should play a waitin'
game."

"Waiting game!" cried Hedin. "I've been playing a waiting game for
months--and I'm through. Good God, man! Do you think my nerves are of
iron? I love Jean--love her as it is possible for a man to love one
woman. I have loved her for years, and I will always love her. And
I've lost her. That damned cad with his airs and his graces has won
her completely away. But, by God, he'll never have her! I'll show him
up in his true colors----"

"An' with him out of the way, lad, ye'll then----"

"With him out of the way she'll despise me!" interrupted Hedin. "She
will never marry him out of loyalty to you, when she finds out he has
tried to knife you. I haven't told you all I know--when he falls,
he'll fall hard! But I know what women think, and I know she'll
despise me for disguising myself and spying on him."

"If ye know what women think, lad, ye're the wisest man God has yet
made, an' as such I'm proud to know ye."

"It is no time to joke," answered Hedin bitterly. "That's a thing I've
never been able to fathom, why you always joke in the face of a serious
situation, and then turn around and raise hell over some trivial matter
that don't amount to a hill of beans."

McNabb grinned. "Do I?" he asked. "Well, maybe ye're right. But
listen, lad, I know ye've regard for me, an' I'm askin' as a personal
favor that ye hold off a bit with your denouncement of yon Wentworth.
Just play the game as ye've been playin' it. Keep on bein' Sven
Larsen, the factor's clerk, heavy of wit, an' able with fool questions.
Ye've a fine faculty for actin'; for all durin' supper the lass never
suspected ye. Keep it up for a while; it won't be for long."

"But what's the good of it? We know as much as we'll ever know. Man,
do you know what you're asking? Loving Jean as I love her, I must
stand about and play the fool, while that damned thief basks in her
favor under my very eyes! If there were a good reason, it would be
different. But Wentworth and Orcutt can go no farther; they're
done----"

"Aye, but they're not done," interrupted McNabb. "Ye'll be knowin' me
well enough to know I always have a reason for the things that I do.
It's a hard thing I'm askin' of ye, an' in this case I'l