"Mr. Britt is executive officer for the lumber company in the north country," explained Barrett, dryly. "We are all associated more or less closely, though many of our holdings are separate. We think it is quite essential to confer together when undertaking any important step." His satiric dwelling on the word "important" was exasperating. "This young gentleman is the principal of our high-school, Pulaski, and he wants me to put a bunch of high-school boys in my woods as foresters--and pay 'em for it. You came in just as I was going to give him my opinion. But it may be more proper for you to do it, for you are the woods executive, and are better posted on conditions up there than I am." His drawled irony was biting. The Honorable John Barrett enjoyed sport of all kinds, including badger-baiting. Now he leaned back in his swivel-chair with the air of a man about to enjoy the spectacle of a lively affair. But Wade, glancing from Barrett to Britt, was in no humor to be the butt of the millionaire. "I don't think I care to listen to Mr. Britt's opinions," he said, rising hastily. "Why? Don't you think I know what I'm talking about?" demanded the lumberman. He had missed the point of Barrett's satire, being himself a man of the bludgeon instead of the rapier. "I'm quite sure you know, Mr. Britt," said the young man, bowing to Barrett and starting away. "I've hired more men than any ten operators on the Umcolcus, put 'em all together," declared Britt, following him, "and I'd ought to know something about whether a man is worth anything on a job or not. And rather than have any one of those squirt-gun foresters cuttin' and caliperin' over my lands, I'd--" Wade shut the door behind him, strode through the outer office, and hurried down-stairs, his face very red and his teeth shut very tight. He realized that he had left the presence of King Spruce in most discourteous haste, but the look in John Barrett's eyes when he had leaned back and "sicked on" that old railer of the rasping voice had been too much for Wade's nerves. To be made an object of ridicule by _her_ father was bitter, with the bitterness of banished hope that had sprung into blossom for just one encouraging moment. When he came out into the sunlight he threw down the fat cigar--plump with a suggestion of the rich man's opulence--and ground it under his heel. In the anxiety of his intimate hopes, in the first cordiality of their interview, it had seemed as though the millionaire had chosen to meet him upon that common level of gentle society where consideration of money is banished. Now, in the passion of his disappointment, Wade realized that he had served merely as a diversion, as a prize pup or a game-cock would have served, had either been brought to "Castle Cut 'Em" for inspection.