“I’m going to beat you to it--that’s all, Peter Loveman. I’m going to telephone Mr. Morton about Jack’s secret marriage and about who his wife is--and there’ll be no big bill for detective services for you. And I’m going to tell Mr. Morton that I shall not oppose any kind of divorce or separation or annulment proceedings, and that I shall not ask for or accept one dollar in the way of settlement--and that means there will be no big fee for you for handling a difficult case. Out of this you’ll get exactly nothing. Now, I guess that fixes you!” His large eyes gazed at her with an almost super-penetration. But there was no doubting that she would do as she had said. His usually ruddy face, gone pale the moment before, now took on a yellowish tinge. Then he laughed with forced joviality, and removed his hands from the telephone and her arm. “That certainly was once that one of my jokes was taken seriously.” He laughed again. “Why, you poor child--of course I wasn’t going to double-cross you!” She was not deceived by this swift change of front. She knew that she had shown the higher card. “Is what you say to be interpreted as meaning that you will not interfere with my plans?” “Go right on!” he said heartily. “All right.” She hung the receiver on its hook and set down the telephone. “But if ever there is any interference which seems to come from you, I’ll do exactly what I said.” “Oh, come, Mary, forget my bit of gun-play. You ought to know that I was only fooling.” He was now thoroughly amiable again, as far as smile and manner went. “Just how are you going to do it, Mary?” “I’m going to do it--that’s all I can definitely say as yet. And now, I have a lot to think about--” “And you’d like to have me go. All right, I’ll go. But say, Mary,--you sure have nerve!” he exclaimed, with a sincerity that was sincere. “Nerve, and a lot of other things. And remember this: I’m counting on putting you across, a little later, in the way I just told you about. You’re just the woman I could do it with--big! Big--you understand! Good-bye.” As the little lawyer went out, Mary took a deep breath. That was one danger, and an unexpected danger, that she had narrowly averted.... Her quick, eager mind flashed ahead to a picture which his words had suggested: “Put you across--big!” Perhaps later, if her present plans went awry, she might want to be put across in some magnificent way--who knew?--and Loveman was the one man to do it. But for the present, Peter Loveman was to be trusted just so far as he could be trusted. CHAPTER XVI THE STRINGS OF HUMAN NATURE