t ease.

"Maclin doesn't own the Point, Larry."

"You better listen to Maclin and not Peter Heathcote." Larry retraced
his steps. His doubt of Northrup had led him astray.

Mary-Clare gave him a startled look.

"Maclin's a brute," she said quietly. "I prefer to listen to my
friends."

"Maclin's our friend. Yours and mine. You'll learn that some day."

"I doubt it, Larry, but he's your employer and I do not forget that."

"I wouldn't. And you're going to change your mind some fine day, my
girl, about a lot of things."

"Perhaps."

"I'm sleeping outside, Mary-Clare." Larry rose lazily. "I just dropped
in to--to call." He laughed unpleasantly.

"I'm sorry, Larry, that you feel as you do."

"Like hell you are!" The words were barely audible. "I'm going to give
you a free hand, Mary-Clare, but I'm going to let folks see your game.
That's square enough."

"All right, Larry." Mary-Clare's eyes flickered. Then: "Why did you
take those letters?"

Larry looked blankly at her.

"I haven't taken any letters. What you hoaxing up?" He waited a moment
but when Mary-Clare made no reply he stalked from the house angrily
and into the night.

CHAPTER VII

Maclin rarely discussed Larry's private affairs with him, but he
controlled them, nevertheless, indirectly. His hold on Larry was
subtle and far-reaching. It had its beginning in the old college days
when the older man discovered that the younger could be manipulated,
by flattery and cheap tricks, into abject servitude. Larry was not as
keen-witted as Maclin, but he had a superficial cleverness; a lack of
moral fibre and a certain talent that, properly controlled, offered no
end of possibility.

So Maclin affixed himself to young Rivers in the days before the
doctor's death; he and Larry had often drifted apart but came together
again like steel responding to the same magnet. While apparently
intimate with Rivers, Maclin never permitted him to pass a given line,
and this restriction often chafed Larry's pride and egotism; still, he
dared not rebel, for there were things in his past that had best be
forgotten, or at least not referred to.

When Maclin had discovered the old, deserted mines and bought them,
apparently Larry was included in the sale. Maclin sought to be
friendly with Mary-Clare when he first came to King's Forest; but
failing in that direction, he shrugged his shoulders and made light of
the matter. He never pushed his advantage nor forgave