d in a contemptuous manner.

"Stop where you are; that kind of thing is thrown away on me. You're
going to listen for a few minutes and afterward you're going to do what I
tell you. To begin with--why, after you'd opened it, didn't you wipe out
all trace of the cache on the reach below the last portage your cousin
made?"

The shot obviously reached its mark, for Gladwyne clutched the table
hard, and then sank back limply into his seat. He further betrayed
himself by a swift, instinctive glance toward the rows of books behind
him, and Lisle had no doubt that the missing pages from George Gladwyne's
diary were hidden among them. He waited calmly, sure of his position,
while Gladwyne with difficulty pulled himself together.

"Have you any proof that I found the cache?" he asked.

"I think so," Lisle informed him. "But we'll let that slide. You'd better
take the thing for granted. I'm not here to answer questions. I've told
you plainly what I want."

There was silence for nearly a minute during which Gladwyne sat very
still in nerveless dismay. All resistance had melted out of him, his
weakness was manifest--he could not face a crisis, there was no courage
in him.

"The miserable young idiot!" he broke out at length in impotent rage.
"This is not the first trouble in which he has involved me!"

"Just so," said Lisle. "Not long ago his sister came here, begging you to
save him, and you wouldn't. It's not my part to point what she must think
of you. But I'm in a different position; you won't refuse me."

Gladwyne leaned forward, gripping the arms of his chair as if he needed
support, and his face grew haggard.

"The difficulty is that I'm helpless," he declared.

Lisle regarded him with contempt.

"Brace up," he advised him. "The fellow you're afraid of is only flesh
and blood; he has his weak point somewhere. Face him and find it, if you
can't talk him round. There's no other way open to you."

A brief silence followed; and then Gladwyne broke it.

"I'll try. But suppose I can induce him to leave Crestwick alone?"

"So much the better for you," Lisle answered with a dry smile. "I'm not
here to make a bargain. I don't want anything for myself."

He went out, consoling himself with the last reflection, for the part he
had played had been singularly disagreeable. Passing down the wide
staircase and through the great hall, he turned along the terrace with a
sense of wonder and disgust. It was a stately house; th