"No," said Clavering, "I don't think I am. I know you got a wallet of dollars--though I don't know who sent them. Are you prepared to deny it?" "I'm not prepared to exchange any words with you," said Grant. "Go while the door is open, and it would not be advisable for you to fall into our hands again. We hanged a friend of yours who, I fancy, lived up to, at least, as high a standard as you seem to do." When Clavering had left the room, the others turned to Grant. "You have something to tell us?" "No," said Grant quietly. "I don't think I have." The men looked at each other, and one of them said, "That fellow's story sounded kind of ugly. What were you taking dollars from the cattle-men for, Larry?" Grant saw the growing distrust in their eyes, but his own were resolute. "I can't help that," he said. "I am with you, as I have always been, but there are affairs of mine I can't have anybody inquiring into. That is all I can tell you. You will have to take me on trust." "You're making it hard," said the man who had spoken first. Before Grant could answer, Clavering returned ready for his ride, but Grant gave him no opportunity to address Hetty and Miss Schuyler. "It is too far to drive to Allonby's in the sled," he said to them. "My sleigh is at your service. Shall I drive you?" Hetty, for a moment, looked irresolute, but she saw Clavering's face, and remembered what was due to him and what he had apparently suffered for her sake. "It wouldn't be quite fair to dismiss Mr. Clavering in that fashion," she said. Grant glanced at her, and the girl longed for an opportunity of making him understand what influenced her. But this was out of the question. "Then, if he will be surety for their safety, the team is at Mr. Clavering's disposal," he said. Clavering said nothing to Grant, but he thrust his hand into his pocket and laid a five-dollar bill on the table. "I am very sorry I helped to destroy some of your crockery, fraeulein, and this is the only amend I can make," he said. "If I knew how to replace the broken things I wouldn't have ventured to offer it to you." The little deprecatory gesture was graceful, and Hetty flashed an approving glance at him; but she also looked at Grant, as if to beseech his comprehension, when she went out. Larry, however, did not understand her, and stood gravely aside as she passed him. He said nothing, but when he was fastening the fur robe round her in the sleigh Hetty spoke. "Larry," she said softly, "can't you understand that one has to do the square thing to everybody?" Then, Clavering, who could not hear what she was saying, flicked the horses and the sleigh slid away into the darkness. A moment or two later, while the men still lingered talking without and Larry stood putting on his furs in the room, Breckenridge saw Miss Muller, who had been gazing at the money rise, and as though afraid her resolution might fail her, hastily thrust it into the stove.