The anger in Wayne Shandon's heart, unchecked at last, blazed in his eyes. "I'll go now," he said shortly. "I have no wish to enter a man's house where I am not welcome. But what I have said I have meant. I shall see Wanda when I can, and when she will come to me as she will some day, I shall marry her." "You are a fool as well as a scoundrel," shouted Leland as he saw the other turn toward the door. "Wanda, when she marries, will marry a gentleman, and not a cur and a coward!" "Those are hard names, Mr. Leland!" "Not so hard as another which belongs to you," came the vibrant rejoinder. "If you dare speak to her again--" "As I most certainly shall," coolly. "By God!" cried the old man, his clenched fist raised. "You leave my girl alone or--" Caught in a sudden gust of rage such as had not half a dozen times in his lifetime touched his blood, he strode to his table, snatched open the drawer and whipped out a revolver. "Go!" he shouted, his face a fiery red. "Go now, without another word, or I'll shoot you." Wayne Shandon's head was flung up with the old gesture, his eyes grew steely and steady, and his answer was a cool contemptuous laugh. "You have called me a coward," he said. "You called me a liar." He came back into the room and sat down upon the edge of the table, not three feet from Martin Leland. "Now, prove me the coward--or yourself the liar!" It was a challenge of sheer reckless impudence, the tempting of a man whose reason was blind drunk with rage. He looked coolly into Leland's eyes ignoring the deadly weapon in Leland's hand. "I am going to roll a cigarette," he said quietly. "I'll stay just that long." The fingers which brought out tobacco and papers were unhurried. He opened the muslin bag, poured the tobacco into the trough of his paper, and his hands were steady. His eyes left Leland's a moment to make sure that he was not spilling any of the brown particles; he lifted them again as he sealed his finished cigarette with the tip of his tongue. He swept a match along his thigh; then he went out, closing the door softly, leaving a thin wisp of smoke trailing behind him. Leland, alone in the study, put his hand to his forehead. It came away wet with sweat. "A game of bluff and the gambler wins!" he muttered fiercely. "And now--God curse me if I spare him!" His buoyant stride carried Red Reckless swiftly down into the yard where he had left Wanda. She looked up eagerly as he came swinging on. Then suddenly her heart stood still, chilled with the quick fear of her premonition. The smile which Shandon summoned was at once a brave attempt and a pitiful failure. "What is it, Wayne?" asked Wanda quickly. "Your father has forbidden me the ranch," he told her bitterly. "I don't know exactly why. It came out of a clear sky so far as I am concerned. He does not want me to come here again; he does not want you to see me at all, anywhere." "Wayne!"