He retreated before she could answer, but he left her thoughtful, as he hoped to do. He had a standing theory that the only way to make a woman meditate is to keep her from talking. And he wanted very much to make Elizabeth meditate the evil in the son of Black Jack. Otherwise all his plans might be useless and his seeds of destruction fall on barren soil. He was intensely afraid of that, anyway. His hope was to draw the boy and the sheriff together on the birthday and guide the two explosives until they met on the subject of the death of Black Jack. Either Terry would kill the sheriff, or the sheriff would kill Terry. Vance hoped for the latter, but rather expected the former to be the outcome, and if it were, he was inclined to think that Elizabeth would sooner or later make excuses for Terry and take him back into the fold of her affections. Accordingly, his work was, in the few days that intervened, to plant all the seeds of suspicion that he could. Then, when the denouement came, those seeds might blossom overnight into poison flowers. In the late afternoon he took up his position in an easy chair on the big veranda. The mail was delivered, as a rule, just before dusk, one of the cow-punchers riding down for it. Grave fears about the loss of that all- important missive to Terry haunted him, for the postmaster was a doddering old fellow who was quite apt to forget his head. Consequently he was vastly relieved when the mail arrived and Elizabeth brought the familiar big envelope out to him, with its typewritten address. "Looks like a business letter, doesn't it?" she asked Vance. "More or less," said Vance, covering a yawn of excitement. "But how on earth could any business--it's postmarked from Craterville." "Somebody may have heard about his prospects; they're starting early to separate him from his money." "Vance, how much talking did you do in Craterville?" It was hard to meet her keen old eyes. "Too much, I'm afraid," he said frankly. "You see, I've felt rather touchy about the thing. I want people to know that you and I have agreed on making Terry the heir to the ranch. I don't want anyone to suspect that we differed. I suppose I talked too much about the birthday plans." She sighed with vexation and weighed the letter in her hand. "I've half a mind to open it." His heartbeat fluttered and paused. "Go ahead," he urged, with well-assured carelessness. She shook down the contents of the envelope preparatory to opening it. "It's nothing but printed stuff, Vance. I can see that, through the envelope." "But wait a minute, Elizabeth. It might anger Terry to have even his business mail opened. He's touchy, you know." She hesitated, then shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose you're right. Let it go." She laughed at her own concern over the matter. "Do you know, Vance, that sometimes I feel as if the whole world were conspiring to get a hand on Terry?" CHAPTER 8