Until late in the night after Dan's departure, Judge Strong still sat at his desk, deep in thought. Occasionally he rose to walk the floor. When the Judge had received that money from McGowan he had had no thought but regret at losing the property he coveted. With Deborah and Denny left alone in the world, he knew that in time the place would be sure to come to him. He had only to wait. This wild Irish brick-layer--and who knows what beside--who was he to block the Elder's plans with his handful of gold? The gold! How well the Judge remembered that day, and how when Mike was gone, he had sat contemplating the shining pieces! What a fool the man was to carry such stuff on his person! The careful Judge never dreamed that the money had come from his own bank. The Irishman was going away on the morrow. Planning gleefully to surprise his sister, he had told no one. He would wander far. It would be years before he would return, if he ever came back. By that time the property would be-- It was seemingly all too easy. The Judge's character was not a character to resist such an opportunity. The gold alone perhaps would not have won, but the gold and the place--the place he had planned for and felt so certain of owning--that was too much! And now this big sad-faced preacher--the Irishman again, and the bank! The more the Judge thought over Dan's quiet words, the more he saw the danger. So it came about, that the next morning Dan, waiting in his study, received a visitor--the good old Elder--Nathaniel Jordan. CHAPTER XXXIX. THE VICTORY OF THE ALLY "So the old Doctor found him in the late afternoon--his great strength shaken by rage and doubt; found him struggling like a beast in the trap." Nathaniel was greatly agitated as he faced the minister in the doorway. He moved unsteadily across the room, stumbling toward the chair Dan offered, and his hand shook so violently that his cane rattled against the window ledge, where he attempted to lay it--rattled and fell to the floor. He jumped in his seat at the sound. Dan picked up the cane and placed it on the table. Then the Elder found his voice--thin and trembling--and said, "I came about--about Brother Strong, you know." "Yes," said Dan, a great pity for this good old man in his heart. "Did Judge Strong send anything?" The Elder fumbled in his pocket and drew out an envelope. He extended it with shaking fingers to Dan, who opened it and examined the contents. Slowly he replaced them in the envelope and, looking at his visitor, waited. Again the Elder found his voice and said with a little more self-control, "A bad business, Brother Matthews; too bad, too bad; poor Brother Strong!" He shook his head sadly. Dan looked at him curiously, but made no reply.