e had been able, in the past, to exclude Mary-Clare from
the inner sanctuary of Maclin's private ideals, and he hated now to
betray her into his clutches. Maclin was devilishly keen under that
slow, sluggish manner of his and he hastened, now, to say:

"Don't get a wrong slant on me, old man. I'm only aiming for the good
of us all, not the undoing. I want to show this fellow Northrup up to
your wife as well as to others. Then she'll know her friends from her
foes. Naturally a woman feels flattered by attentions from a man like
this stranger, but if she sees how he's taken the Heathcotes in and
how he's used her while he was boring underground, she'll flare up and
know the meaning of real friends. Some women have to be _shown_!"

By this time Larry suspected that much had gone on during his absence
that Maclin had not confided to him. He was thoroughly aroused.

"Now see here, Rivers!" Maclin drew his chair closer and laid his hand
on Larry's arm--he gloated over the trouble in the eyes holding his
with dumb questioning. "It's coming out all right. We're in early and
we've got the best seats--only keep them guessing; guessing! Larry,
your wife goes--down to the Point a lot--goes missionarying, you know.
Well, this Northrup is tramping around in the woods skirting the
Point."

Just here Larry started and looked as if something definite had come
to him. Had he not seen Northrup that very day in the woods?

"Now there's an empty shack on the Point, Rivers--some old squatter
has died. I want you to get that shack somehow or another. It ought to
be easy, since they say your wife owns the place; it's your business
to _get_ it and then watch out and keep your mouth shut. You've got to
live somewhere while you can't live decent at home. 'Tisn't likely
your wife, having slammed the door of her home on you, will oust you
from that hovel on the Point--your being there will work both
ways--she won't dare to take a step."

Larry drew a sigh, a heavy one, and began to understand. He saw more
than Maclin could see.

"She hasn't turned me out," he muttered. "I came out."

"Let her explain that, Rivers. See? She can't do it while she's
gallivanting with this here Northrup."

Larry saw the possibilities from Maclin's standpoint, but he saw
Mary-Clare's smile and that uplifted head. He was overwhelmed again by
the sense of impotence.

"Give a woman a free rein, Rivers, she'll shy, sooner or later."
Maclin was gaining assurance