THE ROAD TO LE REVE
 
 rut KO*O re LC i 
 
 'It was the rasp of a paddle against a gunwale which held 
 her spellbound." (See page 2)
 
 ROAD TO 
 LE REVE 
 
 BY 
 
 BREWER CORCORAN 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 H. WESTON TAYLOR 
 
 [E PAGE COMPANY
 
 Copyright, 1916, by 
 THE PAGE COMPANY 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 All rights reserved 
 
 First Impression, September, 1916 
 
 THE COLONIAL PRESS 
 C. H. s: MO MIS COMPANY, BOSTON, U. 8. A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I THE GATES OF IDYLWILD . , . . . i 
 
 II A WARNING ......... 22 
 
 III A REBEL TO CASTE 44 
 
 IV A PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . 59 
 
 V MILLSTONES AND MILESTONES .... 75 
 
 VI A SKIRMISH . . ... . . . . in 
 
 VII AT LE REVE . . . . .... . 129 
 
 VIII THE BIG GUNS SPEAK ... ... .146 
 
 IX LAYING A COUNTERMINE . . .. . . 165 
 
 X A MAN'S TRIBUTE 185 
 
 XI A ROSE AND A ROAD ...... 209 
 
 XII TRAPPING . . . . ... . . 239 
 
 XIII SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 257 
 
 XIV A CONFERENCE . .... . . . 274 
 
 XV A MAN'S WORD ... . . . . . 283 
 
 XVI DANGER SIGNALS * .... . . 296 
 
 XVII CLEAR TRACKS . . v 318 
 
 2134839
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FAOB 
 
 " IT WAS THE RASP OF A PADDLE AGAINST A GUN- 
 WALE WHICH HELD HER SPELLBOUND " 
 
 (See page 2) . . . . Frontispiece 
 
 11 ALMOST BEFORE SHE KNEW IT HE WAS STAND- 
 ING AT HER SIDE, HOLDING UP HIS COAT " 92 
 
 " LITTLE STEPHEN, BEWILDERED, LOOKED ON IN 
 
 SILENCE" ...... 216 
 
 " BROKEN IN STRENGTH AND SPIRIT, HE LEANED 
 
 AGAINST THE SPRUCE*' .... 27! 
 
 " FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS CAREER JOHN 
 
 NORTON'S MASK DROPPED " 288
 
 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE GATES OF-IDYLWILD 
 
 BEHIND her, murmuring alders, their feet tangled 
 in the flotsam of by-gone drives, marched across the 
 narrow valley until conquered by the towering 
 spruce, sweeping, triumphant, up Bald Mountain's 
 rugged shoulders. On the other side of the spar- 
 kling stream reared Saddleback, its brown ridge half 
 hidden in fleecy, pinkening clouds, while over all 
 hung the wilderness silence of the great woods 
 a restful peace fulness not broken, but emphasized, 
 by the somber rumble of Lone Pine Falls. 
 
 A little trout rose viciously at the dropper fly, but 
 the girl merely smiled. Arrogant small fry are ac- 
 corded scant recognition within the closely guarded 
 bounds of Idyl wild, sprawling like an octopus over 
 its four lake-littered, spruce-clad townships. 
 
 Hardly had the ripples subsided before the big 
 fish rose again. Cautiously, she dared a few steps 
 along the sandy point, then sent her flies reaching 
 for the disturbed black water at the tail of the pool. 
 
 1
 
 2 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 But around the lower bend frolicked a puff of wind, 
 as mischievous as it was sweet with forest fragrance, 
 and picking up the flies it dropped them among the 
 tangle of water-logged branches in ambush beneath 
 the frown of a moss-flecked bowlder. 
 
 The slender rod bowed as she proved the extent 
 of the disaster and the brown eyes clouded with 
 quick impatience. Again the father of all trout 
 rose, this time close to the opposite bank. The fleet- 
 ing glimpse of the broad back and brilliantly spotted 
 sides gave her determination for the tug which 
 should part line or leader but just as her wrist 
 stiffened her whole lithe body became alert. 
 
 For a moment it was the rasp of a paddle against 
 a gunwale which held her spellbound, but then this 
 sound was drowned in the eyrie fragment of a habit- 
 ant song chanted by a deep, contented voice. 
 Amazed, she faced the upper bend, her lower lip 
 caught under even teeth and her forehead creased 
 by an indignant frown. That a guide should pre- 
 sume to disturb her sport was unthinkable ; that an 
 interloper should invade the sacred fastnesses of the 
 great preserve was incredible. 
 
 A rigid moment and then a bark canoe swung 
 the point, to be snubbed as sharply as the melody. 
 If she had been startled, her surprise was small com- 
 pared with that of the man who knelt in the stern. 
 She had a fleeting impression of powerful shoulders
 
 THE GATES OF IDYL WILD 3 
 
 beneath a blue flannel shirt, and of a finely poised 
 neck supporting a well-shaped head. The crisp, 
 sandy hair which showed beneath the weather- 
 stained felt hat was close cropped, the blue eyes deep- 
 set, well apart, keen, intelligent and fearless, the nose 
 aquiline, the lips thin and firm, and the lower jaw 
 squarely aggressive. Something about his easy 
 balance suggested the cow pony rather than the 
 canoe, and while his clothes might be the outer shell 
 of a guide the thought flashed into her head that he 
 would appear equally at ease in the conventional eve- 
 ning uniform of civilization. 
 
 He was the quicker to recover, and, forcing him- 
 self to look at the other end of the taut line, com- 
 prehended her predicament. " Wait a moment," he 
 said with a friendly nod, " and I'll free those 
 flies." 
 
 Her attitude relaxed and she turned indifferently. 
 " Really, they're of no importance," she said. 
 
 The lift of his eyebrows proved he was clever 
 enough to recognize a dismissal even before she 
 heard him dig his paddle into the water. But just 
 then a particularly luscious bug tempted the big trout. 
 Both man and girl stared at the swirl. " Don't 
 move ! " he commanded sharply. " He's a three 
 pounder ; you want him." 
 
 Old in the ways of the woods, she recognized it 
 was the fellow angler who spoke. Then, too, there
 
 4 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 was a breath of revolutionary freedom about the 
 new-born incident which chimed with her mood. 
 Had it not been for the culminating series of events 
 which promised to engulf her personality and which 
 made her out of tune with all that Idylwild repre- 
 sented, she would not have fled the gay camps on 
 this brilliant September afternoon to struggle with 
 her chaotic ideals under the guise of fishing a lonely 
 pool. 
 
 " I know I want him," she confessed, instantly 
 determining to obey her own impulses. " I was just 
 going to break things and tie on a new leader." 
 
 " And frighten that trout while doing it. Keep 
 still!" 
 
 She flushed at the carelessly preemptory tone, yet 
 something in his manner made her obey, and, motion- 
 less, she watched the canoe begin to drift around 
 the edge of the pool as silently as a shadow. As 
 he came close to the snag his left hand stole into 
 the water and she knew her flies were free even be- 
 fore feeling the gentle tug. Then, confused by 
 some new emotion, she attempted to recover her 
 cast. The light rod bent sharply and, red lips 
 parted in inarticulate dismay, she looked down the 
 taut line to where a brown hackle was firmly em- 
 bedded in a browner finger. 
 
 The corners of his mouth were twitching, but if 
 he felt the sting of the barb he gave no sign as he
 
 THE GATES OF IDYL WILD 5 
 
 swung the canoe and began the backward journey. 
 Wave upon wave of color surged into her cheeks, 
 and in her utter rout she was unconscious that she 
 was reeling him across the head of the pool to her 
 very feet. 
 
 " Are you going to beach me? " he ventured, his 
 face working. 
 
 " Oh ! " She whirled yard after yard from the 
 drum, even her ears scarlet. " Could anything be 
 more impossible! What shall I do?" 
 
 " Catch that trout, of course," he retorted 
 promptly as he stepped ashore and, turning his back 
 for a few seconds, then offered her the fly with a 
 little bow. 
 
 But, instead of accepting it, her glance remained 
 on his finger. " It's it's bleeding ! " she cried. 
 
 " I don't think it's going to prove fatal. Let's 
 get after that trout." 
 
 " Let me do it up ? It is all I can do to show 
 how I regret my carelessness. Please ! You might 
 get blood poisoning, you know." 
 
 " True," he acknowledged with disconcerting seri- 
 ousness, " I might. But we'll be on the safe side. 
 I believe I used to prefer a thumb but I'll attempt to 
 renew my infancy while you catch that trout. I 
 don't think I'm going to find a finger as satisfying 
 as it used to be and I'm hungry." 
 
 " Catch it yourself," she offered impulsively.
 
 6 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " I'm no poacher." 
 
 "Who are you?" 
 
 " Just an hungry trespasser." 
 
 "After all, perhaps it is just as well that I sent 
 Rufe after raspberries," she announced with a 
 shrug. 
 
 " Rufe who? " he demanded sharply. 
 
 " Haley, my guide." 
 
 " I didn't mean that in a spirit of inquisitive- 
 ness," he explained apologetically. " But, frankly, 
 I wondered at your being alone up here. You know 
 a voyageur expects the unexpected in the woods but 
 seldom finds beauty " 
 
 " Avoid platitudes," she advised impatiently as 
 she made ready to cast. " I assure you a voyageur 
 in Idylwild is quite as novel as what I presume you 
 were going to term ' beauty in distress.' ' 
 
 "Meaning I might explain my presence?" 
 
 '* I know the woods too well to ask questions," 
 she observed as the rod went back. " One of the 
 first lessons Rufe taught me was to listen if I wanted 
 to learn." 
 
 " Good advice," he agreed. " Cast further down 
 stream." And, producing a short and battered pipe 
 and a still more war-worn pouch, he calmly sat down 
 on a log and began to crumble the tobacco between 
 his palms. 
 
 Amazed at his presumption, she was tempted to
 
 THE GATES OF IDYL WILD 7 
 
 put down her rod and teach him his place but his 
 boyish smile disarmed her indignation and she turned 
 to follow his advice, for the first time in her life 
 at a loss as to how to handle a situation. 
 
 Apparently his problems were less trying. Care- 
 fully striking a match, he lit his pipe and, clasping 
 his hands about one home-spun covered knee, bal- 
 anced himself comfortably as he watched the grace- 
 ful figure with frank admiration. He was sure she 
 was not more than twenty-two, positive that she was 
 pretty. Her small, vivacious face was tanned a 
 glorious brown. The features were delicate and 
 sharply molded. But while her nose, with its thin, 
 sensitive nostrils, the small, close-set ears half-hid- 
 den in a tumble of tiny brown curls, and the fas- 
 cinatingly dimpled chin were charmingly appealing, 
 it was the small mouth and the big, mysterious, 
 brown eyes which made men desire to take her in 
 their arms and pour out their troubles to a heart they 
 knew woulc understand and sympathize. As for 
 her clothes they meant nothing to him beyond the 
 fact that the brown tweed skirt, the simple brown 
 waist and the brown felt hat with its rakish red quill, 
 were piquantly appropriate. 
 
 " Well," she exclaimed as she changed the direc- 
 tion of her cast, " I'm still listening! " 
 
 " If I should tell you who I am," he retorted, her 
 method of avoiding questions appealing strangely
 
 8 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 to his sense of humor, " it wouldn't mean anything. 
 I'm just a native." 
 
 The quick sweep of the rod proved her wishes 
 seldom went ungratified. " I presume I should have 
 taken that for granted," she said with a touch of 
 sarcasm. " Also I presume you're seeking em- 
 ployment." 
 
 " Correct again with a landing net. Have you 
 forgotten I'm hungry or did I neglect to tell you I 
 believe you're going to give me that fish? " 
 
 She started to shrug her shoulders but the big 
 trout stopped even that. With a plunging swirl he 
 took the tail fly and the reel began to howl. " Your 
 supper ! " she exclaimed through set teeth. 
 
 He replied as instinct told her he would by 
 merely puffing contentedly at his pipe. As she 
 fought the fish up and down the pool he offered no 
 suggestion nor made a move until she nodded. 
 Then, rising deliberately, he picked up her landing 
 net and with a sure, easy swing, laid the fish at her 
 feet. 
 
 " If old Rufe taught you how to fish," he an- 
 nounced as he looked at the flushed and happy face, 
 " he's a lot to be proud of." 
 
 With a smile, half of pleasure and half of em- 
 barrassment, she held out her rod. " It's your turn 
 now," she invited, eager to return his generosity. 
 " I like to see a real native cast."
 
 THE GATES OF IDYL WILD 9 
 
 To her chagrin, he shook his head. " A real na- 
 tive knows the Idylwild rules too well to poach 
 club water. But don't think I wouldn't have 
 tried it," he added, " if you hadn't supplied my sup- 
 per. May I ? " And he held the fish over his 
 canoe. 
 
 " You'll enjoy your supper more if you work for 
 it." 
 
 " I've worked for most of 'em," he retorted with 
 a short laugh. 
 
 " Then I suppose I should be charitable." 
 
 The fish fell with a slap at her feet. " That I 
 ask of none," he declared. " You can tell your war- 
 dens there's a poacher camped below the Falls to- 
 night." 
 
 " We shall find the hunt exciting." 
 
 For an instant their eyes met, then a smile came 
 over his face. " As long as we're open enemies," 
 he said, " I'll just steal this chap." And picking up 
 the trout, he tossed it into his canoe. 
 
 " That's better ! You natives are so touchy ! " 
 
 " Perhaps you rich people have given us just 
 cause," he threw back. 
 
 " Oh, why play out the farce? " she demanded im- 
 patiently. " When did you come in and who are 
 you visiting? " 
 
 " It does seem incredible," he confessed, " but I'm 
 not here even on sufferance. I came in the other
 
 10 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 way down from Le Reve and I'm going 
 through to the railroad." 
 
 " You'll confess to being a lumberjack next," she 
 laughed. "If you continue to be so uniformly 
 unsatisfactory I'll be sorry I asked you ashore." 
 
 " 'Fraid I didn't hear that invitation," he chuckled. 
 " As I recall it, you hauled me ashore by main 
 strength." 
 
 " I'm not keeping you here," she flashed ; " and I 
 can't go till Rufe returns with my canoe." 
 
 " Don't you want to hire a guide who won't de- 
 sert?" 
 
 " Oh, so now you've decided to be a guide, have 
 you?" 
 
 " I've been a good many things in a good many 
 places." 
 
 " Please," she begged, resentment vanishing as 
 quickly as it had come, " please, what are you 
 here?" 
 
 " Contented." 
 
 " We're in the woods, not at a dinner-table." 
 
 " Therefore I dare tell you the truth." 
 
 " Aren't you daring a good deal with a 
 stranger? " 
 
 " Oh, but I know you," he said, his eyes twin- 
 kling. " Do you imagine any one could live in Le 
 Reve without hearing Haley sing the praises of Miss 
 Betty Norton?"
 
 " I give up," she sighed with a helpless gesture. 
 " You're a sort of unconventional but highly pol- 
 ished enigma. The only thing I'm sure of is that 
 you're not what you're trying to make me believe." 
 
 "Pardon me!" 
 
 " No, " she insisted ; " I know men well enough 
 to be certain you're not a native of a teeny town near 
 the border and that you'd be very much more at 
 home in the Idylwild camps than under a tent on 
 posted ground." 
 
 " Thank you." 
 
 " You needn't." 
 
 He considered for a moment, then drew a long 
 breath. " I'm Hello ! Some one's coming. I'll 
 save you the humiliation of seeing a chap with 
 whom you've been delightfully tolerant kicked out 
 of Idylwild." 
 
 " I didn't think you were a coward. But you 
 needn't be afraid; it's only Rufe." 
 
 " There's more than a possibility that my pres- 
 ence might be embarrassing to him, too," he said, 
 stepping to his canoe. 
 
 But Miss Norton was not one to have her curi- 
 osity aroused, then starved. Impulse sent her run- 
 ning to the water's edge. " Rufe ! " she called 
 through cupped hands. "Rufe! Hurry!" 
 
 She was conscious that the stranger shrugged his 
 shoulders as he stepped back but her eyes remained
 
 12 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 intent on the lower bend. The next moment a 
 canoe shot into the pool at full speed, the white- 
 haired guide bending the paddle with all his great 
 strength. " What's wrong, girl ? " he called, his 
 voice rough with anxiety. 
 
 " I might have been murdered for all of you," 
 she answered. " But instead of that I've captured 
 one of your townsmen." 
 
 The canoe slid into the beach and a broad grin 
 spread over the wrinkled face as he saw the man 
 on the shore make a quick signal. " What you 
 doin' here, Steve?" he demanded. 
 
 " Begging a supper." 
 
 " So! " He got out and, carefully lifting a hat- 
 ful of raspberries, offered them to her. " Better 
 share these with him, too, Betty. He's a good man 
 to have for a friend." 
 
 The girl shook her head doubtfully. " Which 
 am I to believe?" she laughed. "He says he's 
 nobody." 
 
 "Modest cuss!" rumbled Haley. "But if you 
 ever want anythin' between the end of the road 
 and the St. Lawrence, just say you know him and 
 then take it. I'm glad you two have met up." 
 
 " So he's not a poacher or a guide or a lumber- 
 jack or a voyageur or a tramp?" 
 
 " Steve ? " His laughter boomed through the 
 woods.
 
 THE GATES OF IDYLWILD 13 
 
 "And you'll vouch for him?" 
 
 " Ain't heard him ask any vouchers for you, 
 Betty." 
 
 "I deserve that," she cried. "And," she 
 rushed on, determined to make complete restitu- 
 tion, " you've got to prove your forgiveness by com- 
 ing into camp. Really, Idylwild hospitality won't 
 permit you to stay in the woods any more than will 
 Idylwild rules. I proved convention doesn't hold 
 beyond the railroad, you know." 
 
 " Conventions have never bothered me, Miss 
 Norton," he soberly replied, " and while I appreci- 
 ate your generosity, I'm afraid I must be rude 
 enough to refuse your hospitality. Frankly, I dcn't 
 think I'd be a welcome guest." 
 
 Her head went up and the slow color mounted into 
 her cheeks. 
 
 "He's right," broke in Rufe. "Doggone it, 
 Steve Danforth's always right ! " 
 
 " Mr. Dan forth ! " The brown eyes grew even 
 more cold as the girl drew back, her lips slightly 
 parted, her hand clutching her skirt as if to keep it 
 from some contamination. " So you," she said de- 
 liberately, her life-long teachings unconsciously re- 
 asserting themselves, " so you're the man who wants 
 to build the road to Le Reve." 
 
 " No," he answered, " I'm the man who is going 
 to build the road to Le Reve."
 
 14 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 For a moment her repulsion held her in an icy 
 grip, but as she stared at him it began to seem im- 
 possible that this care- free, likable man who acted 
 like a boy was the person whom they had heard was 
 plotting to profane Idyl wild with railroad tracks. 
 " I can't believe it," she admitted, as if trying to 
 convince herself she had misunderstood; "I can't 
 believe that a man who understands the wilderness 
 spirit as you do cannot appreciate that selfishness 
 is the one thing that is unbearable." 
 
 " I wish," he stated gently, " that others appreci- 
 ated that as clearly as you and I." 
 
 Her lips set and she stooped to pick up her rod. 
 " I am indebted to the unknown woodsman," she 
 said in a tone which clearly showed her intolerance, 
 " but the engineer is a different man. Good night." 
 
 As she started toward her canoe, her proud little 
 head stiffly erect, it dawned over him that for some 
 inexplainable reason he cared what this girl thought 
 of him and his plans, and his mind, once made up, 
 was made for all time. Without considering the 
 possible interpretation she might put on his act, he 
 stepped deliberately in front of her. " Miss Nor- 
 ton," he announced dispassionately, " what you have 
 left unsaid rather implies that what you have heard 
 is hardly creditable either to my plans or to me. 
 What people say or think of me matters, as a rule, 
 very, very little, but my few friends, I think, be-
 
 THE GATES OF IDYLWILD 15 
 
 lieve in me. Don't you think you owe any man op- 
 portunity to refute injustices?" 
 
 " I prefer not to discuss the matter." 
 
 " Then I owe it to myself," he stated, " for there 
 are some things no man will bear in silence. The 
 stories you have heard have echoed on to me. The 
 Idylwild men say I'm an adventurer whose glib 
 tongue has won a following among an equally av- 
 aricious crew of backwoodsmen and the backing of 
 a crowd of financiers who would discredit the Forty 
 Thieves." 
 
 "You," she protested, her small hob-nailed boot 
 tapping the yellow pebbles , " you " 
 
 " Wait ! " he commanded. " You've heard 
 we've promised to trade votes in the Legislature, 
 have agreed not to fight certain bills to change the 
 game laws in return for the granting of our fran- 
 chise. You've heard that when we get that fran- 
 chise we'll come to Idylwild and say, * What's it 
 worth to you to save your camps ? ' Tell me," he 
 demanded, " do you believe me that sort of black- 
 mailing crook? " 
 
 " No," she confessed, and started at the sound 
 of her voice. 
 
 " Thanks. Won't you let me tell you the real 
 story?" 
 
 " Be game," urged old Rufe. " Always listen to 
 the other side."
 
 16 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " But I'm against it, Rufe," she protested. " As 
 for being what you call ' game/ I'm just game 
 enough not to wish any inadvertent repetitions of 
 anything Mr. Danf orth might say to be charged up ' 
 against me as a reason for his failure." 
 
 " But I'm not going to fail, Miss Norton," in- 
 sisted Dan forth with a confidence which made her 
 look at him curiously. " And, no matter what 
 might happen " 
 
 " Why should you want to ruin Idylwild ? " she 
 broke in. " We've never done anything to you. If 
 you must force a road through the wilderness, why 
 not have it follow some other route? " 
 
 " There is no other." 
 
 " An engineer does not destroy." 
 
 He studied her earnest face for a moment, then 
 dared the leap. " John Norton's daughter," he 
 said, " should realize that great things are always 
 built on the ruins of lesser things." 
 
 " That's unkind," she cried. 
 
 " It's the truth." 
 
 "It's not," she flatly contradicted. "I can't 
 comprehend how you can believe that a little railroad 
 running from the end of an almost dead line to I 
 don't know where in the wilderness, is a greater 
 thing than Idylwild. Why, we've spent hundreds 
 of thousands to protect it, to preserve it, to keep it 
 as Nature made it and to make it a home. And
 
 THE GATES OF IDYL WILD 17 
 
 you want to run cars through its heart into noth- 
 ingness, to frighten our deer with your engines, to 
 have our trout dynamited by your construction 
 gangs and to bring in irresponsible campers who'd 
 set fire to our spruce, and ruin the very isolation 
 we've paid so much to keep." 
 
 " That's one side," he granted; " don't you think 
 it rather selfish?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " I do." 
 
 " Mr. Dan forth, I'm not accustomed to such 
 abrupt contradictions." 
 
 " I'd much rather convince than contradict." He 
 saw the small face grow still more dangerous, yet, 
 apparently it did not worry him, for he went on with 
 a calm authority which made her grow hot, then 
 cold. " Now you're going to listen to my side. I 
 don't deny you people have spent much here in the 
 woods," he admitted, leaning against his canoe as 
 if ready to carry on a long fight. " They have; but 
 in return they've had big dividends in luxury, in 
 sport, in faithful service and in the friendship of 
 such men as Rufe Haley. But every cent expended, 
 and many thousands more, they've made from the 
 spruce stripped from townships bought for next to 
 nothing. By no stretch of the imagination, Miss 
 Norton, can you believe that the wilderness is the 
 debtor of Idylwild. That, however, is secondary."
 
 18 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " I don't agree with you. Brains turned idle 
 resources into money." 
 
 " Exactly. But in this case the brains served only 
 eight men." 
 
 " Please produce more convincing arguments 
 than alleged selfishness," she said with a touch of 
 scorn. 
 
 " Don't you think that would be rather difficult? " 
 he asked with a slow smile. " Idylwild is girded by 
 a barrier of tangled slash and stunted second 
 growth. To the south, the country is stripped even 
 of spool timber to the railroad. But over there, 
 beyond Bald Mountain and Saddleback, the virgin 
 spruce rolls on to the gateway of a dormant valley. 
 My father lived there; my mother went there as a 
 girl to teach the little school at Le Reve ; I was born 
 there ; I earned my first dollar there and," he finished 
 in a lower tone, " my dead are buried there." 
 
 She moved uneasily and glanced at Haley as if 
 for an inspiration, but found the old man's face 
 raised intently to Danforth's. Before she could 
 capture a phrase the younger man rose and stood 
 towering above her, his eyes glowing. " But all of 
 that is aside from the real question," he declared in 
 vibrant tones. " There're live men and women in 
 Le Reve and little children growing up as I grew up. 
 From the village to the Canadian line there are farms 
 dotting the rich valley, and even on this side a few
 
 THE GATES OF IDYLWILD 19 
 
 clearings have been grubbed back from Nature. 
 But they're almost worthless." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 His eyes lighted at her unconcealed interest. 
 "Why?" he cried. "Why? Because there's no 
 market for crops or logs. They can't send out hay 
 or potatoes through the tight locked gates of Idyl- 
 wild. A few do accept the Canadian outlet but the 
 ultimate returns are too small to compensate them 
 except under unusual conditions. There can be but 
 one result the farms are not worked beyond the 
 daily need, the spruce is uncut, the whole fertile 
 valley lies dormant, and the boys and girls drift to 
 other places." 
 
 " But you are better off because you left," she 
 contended. 
 
 " All the more reason I should do what I can to 
 help those who've not had my luck. The best place 
 for the country boy, Miss Norton, is the country. 
 More and more he is growing to appreciate that, and 
 more and more it must be driven home to those who 
 have yet to realize it. The lad from the country 
 who wins out in the city is even more the exception 
 to-day than he was forty years ago. I'm not one. 
 I'm poor. But I've knocked about a bit in the last 
 fifteen years and not so long ago I had six weeks 
 with nothing to do but think." 
 
 He stopped, shaking his head as if recalling some-
 
 20 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 thing far from pleasant. Old Haley, squatting on 
 his haunches by the water's edge, nodded slow un- 
 derstanding and the girl, sensing the unusual, started 
 to speak, but Danforth went on rapidly. " I'm not 
 visionary," he stated, " and I'm a long way from be- 
 ing a socialist, but when a man's calmly informed 
 that he's going to face his God before dawn, he 
 tries mighty hard to recollect a few legitimate rea- 
 sons for the things he's done. My past," he threw 
 in with a short laugh, to cover his embarrassment, 
 " did not review with astounding glory, so I made 
 up my mind that if I disappointed the doctors I'd 
 think a little less about Steve Danforth and do a 
 good deal more to try to help those who needed 
 help." 
 
 " Such a philosophy of life sounds strange in 
 these days," she murmured, half to herself. " I like 
 that." 
 
 " Don't think I'm posing as a sanctimonious bene- 
 factor of humanity," he cried in genuine distress. 
 " I despise mawkish sentiment ; any red-blooded man 
 does. I'm not offering the people of Le Reve char- 
 ity any more than I'll offer the richer men behind 
 me bonds bearing the Golden Rule." 
 
 " But are you sure," she asked hesitatingly, her 
 big eyes fixed earnestly on him, " absolutely sure, the 
 people need this road ? " 
 
 " I wish you'd go to Le Reve," he said eagerly ;
 
 THE GATES OF IDYL WILD 21 
 
 " the fields, the farms, the barns, the grim men, the 
 tired women and the sturdy little children could tell 
 you so much better. And the spruce is there to 
 furnish the quick assets when the road goes 
 through." 
 
 She shook her head as she stooped for the land- 
 ing-net at her feet before stepping into the bow of 
 her canoe. " And only eight men stand in the 
 way," she said as if thinking aloud, " only eight 
 men." 
 
 " Yes," he repeated soberly, " only eight men 
 and Idylwild." 
 
 All at once she straightened and a queer light 
 came into her eyes as she raised them to his. 
 " Thank you, Mr. Dan forth," she said quietly, " and 
 good night. Rufe, push off."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 A WARNING 
 
 THEIR canoe slipped down the winding stream as 
 silently as the gathering dusk and not until they met 
 the dead water which foretold Mirror Lake did the 
 girl's paddle begin to lag. At first the guide made 
 no comment on the novelty of her shirking but as 
 the swirls became fainter and fainter an amused 
 twinkle began to glimmer in the blue eyes and he 
 lengthened his own stroke. But as they slid free 
 of the last pads temptation overcame him, and, 
 gripping his pipe more firmly in his teeth, he 
 chuckled aloud. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " she demanded so sharply 
 that his amusement spread to the corners of his 
 mouth. 
 
 "Like him, Betty?" 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " Maybe we are thinkin' o' different folks," he ad- 
 mitted mournfully. 
 
 Her paddle bit the water impatiently. " That's 
 right," she cried ; " make fun of me ! Why did you 
 leave me there to make a fool of myself? "
 
 A WARNING 23 
 
 " Sorter recollect you ordered me to go. Usually 
 do what I'm told specially when you do the 
 orderin'. Steve an' me's a good deal similar 'bout 
 that ; we're sorter touchy 'bout who gives us orders. 
 Queer how stiff-backed some folks is, ain't it? 
 Never reasonable 'bout nothin'." 
 
 " You're worse than ever to-night," she sighed. 
 " Stop croaking like an old loon and answer me or 
 I'll find a guide who knows his business." 
 
 During the sixteen seasons she had spent at Idyl- 
 wild he had heard that threat at least twice a week 
 but he knew, as well as she, that only that day when 
 he bade his first good-by to the big woods and 
 struck out for that country where no trails are 
 blazed, would terminate the comradeship which was 
 the strangest thing in the young life and the most 
 precious in the old. 
 
 " Well, Betty," he sighed disconsolately, " if we've 
 come to the split in the carry there's a better woods- 
 man 'an me footfree on the back trail." 
 
 "Where?" she challenged indignantly. 
 
 " Hangin' over a broilin' trout up Lone Pine 
 way," he gurgled. 
 
 She shook her head in token of utter hopelessness 
 but he only shifted his pipe to a more comfortable 
 conversational angle. Yet, to his amazement, she 
 only fell into the fast stroke, and they rounded the 
 point and were out in the open lake before she
 
 24 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 deemed him sufficiently punished. " Rufe," she 
 broke out, " tell me more about him." 
 
 " More ? Don't recollect makin' no remarks 
 whatsoever." 
 
 " Then begin." 
 
 " Reckon you found him able to do his own talk- 
 in', that is, if he thinks as much o' you as you make 
 out to think o' him. I tell you," he rushed on as 
 if to avoid the tempest he had invited, " preachers 
 wouldn't have no excuses if God'd made all men 
 like Steve." 
 
 " Didn't know you were an authority on church 
 or clergy," she threw out. 
 
 " No ? Maybe there's a heap o' things you got to 
 learn. Yonder there's the steeple o' my church, 
 risin' black ag'in the gold West." 
 
 She turned curiously toward the barren point and 
 her lips parted as she drank in the glories of the 
 majestic spruce silhouetted against the afterglow. 
 " It's a good religion, Rufe," she said gravely, 
 " good and safe and comforting." 
 
 " It is," agreed Haley.. " Steve's just that, too." 
 
 " I want to think so," she said with an earnestness 
 which startled him. " I can't believe that a man 
 who thinks and acts and talks as he does can be the 
 things they say he is and yet I can't actually bring 
 myself to believe conditions are as he understands 
 them."
 
 A WARNING 25 
 
 " You ain't been in Le Reve since you was little ; 
 come see for yourself." 
 
 " It isn't that which is troubling me," she ad- 
 mitted, " as much as it is the old Idylwild viewpoint. 
 If there was a demand for such a road the Idylwild 
 men would have been the first to recognize it." 
 
 "What's such a road to Al Sykes? I've heard 
 tell he has a pack full." 
 
 " Sanctimonious Sykes," she retorted with a 
 shrug, " can always find room for one more. No, 
 at best it looks just what its name implies ' the 
 road to a dream.' And I don't think a hard-headed 
 man like you can believe in it either, Rufe." 
 
 " I do," he asserted ; " I'm with him heart and 
 cash, me an' a lot o' the men who're mighty close to 
 the Idyl Island camps." 
 
 " Rufe ! But, Rufe," she protested as the full im- 
 port of his confession sank home, " you don't " 
 
 "Hold up!" he ordered. "Don't say nothin' 
 you don't mean. We ain't turncoats or ingrati- 
 tuders. The whole thing's goin' to be put up to the 
 boys at the Island soon's it's in shape. Till then, 
 Steve's passed the word to lie low on account of so 
 many of us Le Reve men bein' at camp. He sorter 
 thinks we might be wrong judged, jest as you was 
 goin' to judge us. But, when the time comes, you'll 
 find the boys meetin' us more'n half way." 
 
 " I wish I had your faith. Why, Rufe," she
 
 26 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 cried, her whole manner changing, " you don't real- 
 ize what you're doing. Stop it. Get out of it now, 
 while you can. Idylwild's everything to father and 
 the rest. They'll fight for every stick of spruce and 
 every drop of water. You don't begin to appreci- 
 ate what that means, what they can do, what their 
 power is." 
 
 " Knowin' John Norton an' the other boys," he 
 said loyally, " I don't reckon there'll be much fightin' 
 when they come to see our point." 
 
 " But they won't give up Idyl wild," she protested ; 
 "not one inch of it. And think how they'll feel 
 when they learn how you men who've been with 
 them year after year are plotting to spoil the very 
 thing you've built up together. Can't you see that 
 side of it? Can't you see it means the end of every- 
 thing?" 
 
 " No," he retorted stoutly, " I can't. I got more 
 faith in human nature." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! What can I say ? How can I con- 
 vince you things are different outside the wilder- 
 ness ? " 
 
 " You can't. Men's men everywhere." 
 
 She was thoughtful for a moment, weighing his 
 simple faith against the little of the world she knew. 
 Vividly she saw what lay ahead, and eagerly she 
 clutched at anything which might avert the catas- 
 trophe. " Rufus," she began, " in all these years
 
 A WARNING 27 
 
 you've never refused me anything. Won't you get 
 out of this, even if the others insist on going on 
 with it?" 
 
 " Betty Norton ain't askin' me to quit my idee o' 
 right," he said scornfully. " If I misjedged your 
 own folks worse'n you, an' the row you appear 
 scared on comes, there ain't no quitter on either 
 side." 
 
 " And when it comes," she declared, " it will mean 
 the end of everything. You'll " 
 
 " No," he snapped, reading her fears, " no rail- 
 road'll come between you an' me." 
 
 " But it will," she insisted. " It can't do anything 
 else. I can see it all so clearly, the uselessness, the 
 bitterness, the sorrow." 
 
 " You're not playin' fair to your father an' the 
 rest o' the boys, Betty." 
 
 " I'm thinking of you and of Idyl wild and of my- 
 self." 
 
 " An' you're bein' unreasonable an' unjest an' 
 selfish," he added patiently. " Steve told you that, 
 blazed his trail a lot sharper'n I can. We ain't goin' 
 to ask no great favors, we ain't goin' to harm much 
 o' the preserve, an' we are goin' to do a lot o' people 
 a heap o' good. All we want's a fair chance. A 
 fair chance ain't much, Betty, 'specially when you 
 recollect how little we want an' how much they have. 
 You'd give it, give it quick. I'd only jest have to
 
 28 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 ask you an' you'd give me an' mine that chance if it 
 cost every trout an' deer an' stick o' timber in Idyl- 
 wild." 
 
 " Of course I would ; but I'm not the rest." 
 
 A slow, triumphant smile crinkled the corners of 
 his big mouth. " You're John Norton's daughter," 
 he reminded her. " Supposin' we let it go at that 
 an' bend our paddles." 
 
 There was a certain grim finality in the suggestion 
 which told her further argument was useless. If 
 what they, and Dan forth, in particular, had told her 
 was true, she must acknowledge that there was jus- 
 tice in the scheme, a justice strangely in accord with 
 her own misty beliefs. But the practical phases of 
 the plan were beyond her depth, and all she could do 
 was to tell herself over and over again that if the 
 sleeping lions on Idyl Island were once roused by a 
 threat against their jealously guarded lair there 
 would be more results than angry roars. 
 
 Haley's simple faith in her people was, to her, the 
 most pitiful thing of all. She had overheard too 
 many anecdotes of those who had presumed to chal- 
 lenge the little group who owned Idylwild to doubt 
 the fate looming ahead of these simple-minded men 
 of the woods led, as they were, by a man whose 
 experience must be as nothing when compared with 
 men of such manifold interests as Bennitt, Robert 
 Sheffield and her father, to say nothing of Alonzo
 
 A WARNING 29 
 
 P. Sykes. It was this identical smashing force of 
 the mighty which had upset her mind weeks before 
 and now she found herself pitying Dan forth and 
 wishing she could talk with him once more in the 
 vague hope that she might be able to turn him back. 
 
 The sanctity of Idylwild figured no longer in her 
 thoughts, for her impulsive, over-generous heart 
 cried to her to come to the aid of those she must 
 consider the weak. It did not occur to her that 
 other and outside interests must be involved in this 
 plan to build a road to Le Reve for the simple reason 
 that heretofore in all projects which she had over- 
 heard discussed it seemed to be taken for granted 
 that no outside financial interference would be tol- 
 erated. Under such circumstances she became con- 
 vinced that her mission was to avert a calamity from 
 one who had long been her friend and from one 
 who already she unconsciously counted among her 
 friends. 
 
 Twice her lips parted as if she were about to re- 
 open the discussion but each time the outline of Idyl 
 Island, sharp against the darkening West, drove 
 back the words, for the Island seemed to typify the 
 character of the men who owned it, rising sharply as 
 it did from the placid water like a black period which 
 closes an emphatic negative. 
 
 Idyl Island was the center of the Idylwild which 
 had been born of a lumber deal. Nearly forty
 
 30 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 years before, four men had gone into the wilderness, 
 young, ambitious and rich only in their determina- 
 tion to become rich. For three weeks they had fol- 
 lowed Haley and Nate Salisbury through the virgin 
 spruce, along mountain-sides, past unnamed ponds 
 and down streams choked with beaver dams until 
 at last they camped on an island set in a lean lake. 
 And there, while the pencil of A. P. Sykes figured 
 the investigated townships as lineal feet of timber 
 and Daniel Bennitt taxed his sharp brain for means 
 to finance the deal, John Norton and Robert Shef- 
 field had caught great trout and dreamed greater 
 dreams of a preserve which should outreach the eye 
 in every direction from that island they had already 
 dubbed Idyl. 
 
 It had been Norton who had finally persuaded the 
 additional four to furnish the capital and it had 
 been he who had, still later, insisted that the four 
 townships which touched Mirror Lake be spared 
 from the ax until necessity demanded their sacri- 
 fice. It had been Sheffield who had ferreted out 
 the second investment which had moved that neces- 
 sity into the future and made vaguely possible the 
 dream of a wilderness sanctuary. Succeeding ven- 
 tures had yielded easier and easier golden harvests, 
 and the homes of the eight original adventurers 
 gradually centered on the Avenue while their coun- 
 try places became boasts in Westchester, the Berk-
 
 A WARNING 31 
 
 shires and on Long Island. But it was to Idylwild, 
 the realized dream, that the eight turned whenever 
 opportunity offered and, as the years rolled on, they 
 became masters even of opportunity. 
 
 An elaborate central camp had long since replaced 
 the original cabin on the Island's ridge. Curving 
 out on either side stood the characteristic homes of 
 the eight owners Bennitt's, a huge mass of golden 
 logs ; Norton's, simple, square-angled and shaded by 
 friendly trees ; Sheffield's, a great, rambling caravan- 
 serie ; the Sykes' cabin ostentatiously inextravagant ; 
 the Bliss place a copy of Bennitt's and the other 
 three composites of all but the home of " Sancti- 
 monious" Sykes. The vague atmosphere of sim- 
 plicity was merely the hybrid cub of art and un- 
 limited wealth and the club's rule that convention 
 must be left at railhead was the only one which 
 the wives of the eight bothered to break. 
 
 In reality the guides and the hearts of some of the 
 owners were the sole relics of the original Idylwild. 
 If Norton and Sheffield still insisted on wearing 
 flannel shirts and smoking pipes, their wives could 
 but offset the whim by a more costly simplicity in 
 entertaining. If the older guides persisted in call- 
 ing all of the original eight by their Christian names 
 it was merely as a token that in the woods a man 
 is a man and a friend a friend. 
 
 For years Sheffield had insisted on a camp fire
 
 32 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 before the main house each evening. -At last he had 
 been forced to surrender to the general protests of 
 women, who could find no poetry in the open night. 
 But Bob Sheffield was a man who struck his flag 
 in one place only when ready to raise it in another. 
 Deprived of his pet plaything, he set up a substitute 
 on the boat-house veranda, and there, fireless, and in 
 the soft darkness of the fragrant evenings, the 
 " early inhabitants," guide and millionaire, gathered 
 to lay pitiously small plans for the morrow or to 
 tell staggeringly great lies of the past. 
 
 Miss Norton, as she neared the Island, became 
 vaguely apprehensive of the raillery she knew her 
 late arrival would evoke from this concourse of wits 
 who prided themselves on their contempt for the 
 subtle. Nor could she quite understand her unusual 
 desire to be left to her thoughts. In the past she 
 had always been a welcome addition to this exclu- 
 sive circle, enjoying its frank give and take, and 
 playing far more than a decorative part. Yet as 
 Rufe swung the point and laid his course for the 
 landing she found herself wishing, for the first time 
 in her life, that the creaking old chairs would be 
 empty. But before she shipped her paddle her 
 hopes were shattered by a booming " Get into 
 stroke ! " 
 
 When they heard that voice infant power com- 
 panies gasped as did the girl. Mr. Sheffield, above
 
 A WARNING 33 
 
 all others, was the last of the crew she wished to 
 face. In no mood to retort to his banter she shut 
 her lips and clutched the edge of the float. 
 
 Above, a chair crashed from two legs to four and 
 the red end of a cigar projected over the balustrade. 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Sheffield in vast relief, " it's only 
 Bet and Rufe. Thought Dan Bennitt's launch had 
 another case of croup. John, it's a shame in you to 
 turn Haley loose to scare the deer." 
 
 " Ain't so fat I'm skeered to run white water," 
 chuckled Rufe, tossing his paddle onto the boards 
 and following it catlike. " You orter take more 
 exercise, Bob." 
 
 Mr. Sheffield laughed as he tilted back into com- 
 fort and turned to Mr. Norton expectantly. Nor 
 did his life-long comrade fail him. " Get fired to- 
 day, Rufe?" he inquired solicitously. 
 
 "Sure!" 
 
 " Going to be tough on a man of your age to have 
 to go to work," observed Sheffield. " And why this 
 silence on the part of our fair Elizabeth? " 
 
 The girl stepped slowly from the canoe and 
 handed her rod to the guide. " One needs a crow- 
 bar to pry a word into this flow of wisdom," she 
 called gayly. " Are you all there? " 
 
 "If you refer to your parent and me, we are; 
 if you crave a larger audience, you'll have to 
 wait."
 
 34 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " What kept you so late ? " 
 
 " Been up to the Falls, Dad," she answered as 
 she came up the steps. 
 
 "Where are the fish?" Mr. Sheffield stared in 
 mock dismay at her empty hands. " Ah, I see ! 
 The biggest one you ever hooked got away." 
 
 " Unfortunately, yes," she replied with a queer 
 smile, glad that the friendly darkness hid her burn- 
 ing cheeks. 
 
 " Where'd you raise him ? " 
 
 " Think I'm going to tell you, Uncle Bob ? " 
 
 "You don't have to, my dear; I know." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " All about that fish." 
 
 With sudden relief she realized they were fenc- 
 ing at cross purposes, but as suddenly the sport ap- 
 pealed to her. " Oh, no, you don't," she laughed. 
 " Such a mighty angler as you would consider him 
 small fry." 
 
 " Quit bluffing ! " he commanded. " Any trout 
 that'll keep you and Rufe out till this time of night's 
 worth even my while. I'm going up to the pool for 
 him to-morrow." 
 
 " No, you're not. That's not fair." 
 
 " So it was the pool," he chuckled. " I'll be wait- 
 ing there when the sunrise gun booms." 
 
 " You ain't seen sun-up in thirty year," grunted 
 Haley as he passed beneath them, the canoe over his
 
 A WARNING 35 
 
 head. " Betty, run along to supper. That pair 
 ain't gumption enough to see you're tired." 
 
 " What's done you up ? Get into any sort of 
 trouble?" 
 
 " Oh, no. I simply stayed late because I really 
 did get a big fish in the pool." 
 
 " Seeing's believing," hinted Mr. Sheffield. 
 
 " I gave him away." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 Too late she appreciated the slip, but on the in- 
 stant she rallied, determined to put her vague plans 
 into operation. " I gave him away," she repeated, 
 coming across the veranda to lean on the rail. " I 
 met a man on the stream." 
 
 " Hi, Rufe ! " sharply commanded Sheffield. 
 " Come back here." 
 
 " Rufe is going to his supper, Uncle Bob ; I want 
 to talk with you two." 
 
 "But, Rufe" 
 
 " Is going to his supper," she reiterated. " This 
 man is quite different from any man I've met. His 
 name is Stephen Danforth." She paused as if ex- 
 pecting an outburst, but, instead, saw Sheffield glance 
 queerly at her father. " Well ? " she demanded. 
 
 "Well what?" 
 
 " What do you know about him ? " 
 
 " I'm not the one who's been fishing with him. 
 Doesn't seem to me he can amount to much if he
 
 36 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 makes such questions necessary from a girl. Is the 
 poor thing dumb? " 
 
 " Stop trying to be funny, Uncle Bob, and answer 
 me, one of you." 
 
 " You seem to be the one who has introduced the 
 stranger," observed her father. " I believe there's 
 a club rule that the introductor is the one who must 
 furnish the credentials." 
 
 " I didn't say I introduced him and I did ask a 
 question. Please be good. I've overheard you 
 make casual references to this railroad and I want to 
 know more about it." 
 
 " Oh, so your friend's going to build a railroad, is 
 he? Wonder if Brother Sykes will welcome a rival 
 in his chosen field ? " 
 
 " I don't know or care anything about what Mr. 
 Sykes will do or think," she cried. " But I do know 
 that you know about this road and I want to know 
 about it. As long as the idea seems to be to run 
 it through a part of Idylwild I presume you'll 
 eventually make some move to prevent it." 
 
 " That's a fair supposition," admitted her father 
 lazily. 
 
 "Can you do it?" 
 
 " Fine compliment to paternal powers, that ! " 
 
 " Have you the right to do it ? " she demanded, 
 paying no attention to Mr. Sheffield. 
 
 " Don't know who's a better one."
 
 A WARNING 37 
 
 " I mean a moral right." 
 
 " He'll flounder if you get him in deep water, 
 Bet," chuckled Mr. Sheffield. " I'm the moralist of 
 this outfit. I read a book on morals once." 
 
 Mr. Norton shifted his pipe into a more comfort- 
 able notch in his teeth and heaved his feet up onto 
 the rail. "I'm not greatly in sympathy with the 
 general run of socialistic tommyrot," he announced 
 indifferently, " and, from what little I've heard, this 
 scheme strikes me as being a little more impractical 
 than the average. It's barely been hatched and, as 
 yet, we've hardly bothered to learn who's back of it. 
 If it were not for its apparently excellent opportu- 
 nities for blackmailing an innocent and unsuspicious 
 lot of good-natured property owners, it wouldn't 
 worry even Al Sykes as a business proposition." 
 
 " You're wrong there." 
 
 " Even that's possible," he said good-humoredly. 
 " If I am, though, even such an inexperienced, but 
 seemingly interested business woman as you, will 
 have to agree that if this road is actually contem- 
 plated the driving of the first spike is the swan-song 
 of Idylwild. And while the place means a good 
 deal to you, my dear, it's even more to us old 
 codgers. It represents the beginning of success to 
 every one of us." 
 
 " It may represent the same thing to Mr. Dan- 
 forth."
 
 38 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " It may," Mr. Norton agreed, stroking his mus- 
 tache to hide the suspicion of a smile, " but I don't 
 think it ever will." 
 
 " And are you going to try to prevent it? " 
 
 " I think you can accept that theory even without 
 your rather unfilial qualification." 
 
 " I don't Father," she exclaimed impulsively, 
 " I wish you knew him." 
 
 " I'd like to," said Mr. Sheffield. " I'd like to 
 take lessons from him." 
 
 " Oh, how I wish I could squelch you as I'd like 
 to, Uncle Bob ! Don't you see I'm serious ? Can't 
 you understand I'm trying to find out something? " 
 
 " Seems to me," suggested an even voice from 
 inside the boat house, " that any one who's known 
 your father as long as you have should recognize the 
 absurdity of asking him anything." 
 
 The girl straightened, and, with a weary shake of 
 the head, took a few Steps toward the doorway. 
 " You're right, Mr. Bennitt," she agreed. " They 
 won't do anything but pat me on the head and hint 
 that I shouldn't take an interest in anything more 
 serious than new hats." 
 
 " Didn't know a pretty girl considered that topic 
 second to anything." The big, square-shouldered 
 figure loomed through the doorway and, stalking 
 across the veranda, sank into a protesting chair. 
 " Why don't you two brutes pick on something your
 
 A WARNING 39 
 
 own size ? " he asked. " What is it you want to 
 know, Betty?" 
 
 There was a kindly sympathy in the question 
 which would have been totally inexplainable to many 
 men who had come in contact with the usually cold, 
 masterful central figure of the Idyl wild clique. 
 Daniel Bennitt's dislikes were never emphasized; 
 neither did he often permit the few for whom he 
 held affection to warm toward him. But Betty 
 Norton was, with him as with the other seven, the 
 exception to all set rules. " Come on," he urged ; 
 " out with it." 
 
 " Having lost her tongue and other things up 
 Lone Pine way," teased Mr. Sheffield, " my lady 
 asks me to explain her predicament. She's un- 
 earthed a fledgling rival to Brother Sykes." 
 
 "What's that? Who?" 
 
 " That chap Danforth," explained Mr. Norton. 
 " It seems he's within our boundaries and Betty's not 
 only talked with him, but appears impressed with 
 what he had to say." 
 
 " Um ! " Bennitt thrust his hands deep into his 
 pockets. " Like him, Bet? " 
 
 " Yes, I do." 
 
 "What'd he tell you?" 
 
 " Don't you think he could tell you his plans 
 better than I could repeat them," she asked with a 
 smile. " You wouldn't expect me to babble yours."
 
 40 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Scored ! " yelled Sheffield. " A Daniel brought 
 to judgment and fined for careless driving." 
 
 " Guess you're right," agreed Bennitt good-natur- 
 edly. " See here, boys," he added with a touch of 
 seriousness which instantly put her more on her 
 guard, " if the fellow's here, and if Betty's met him 
 and likes him, why not have her ask him into camp ? " 
 
 " I don't think he'd come," she stated. 
 
 " Oh, don't be so innocently modest ! " urged 
 Sheffield. 
 
 " He's got to come," said Mr. Bennitt ; " sooner or 
 later he's got to come." 
 
 She flushed at the positiveness of his tone, resent- 
 ing it with inexplainable anger. " Isn't it pleasant," 
 she said, " to be able to command the fly to walk 
 gayly into the web? " 
 
 " Not especially. He's not big enough to furnish 
 a moderately hungry spider with even a quick 
 lunch." 
 
 " Once in awhile," she suggested, " you know a 
 wasp blunders into a web." 
 
 " ' Blunders ' is just the word," agreed her father, 
 vaguely troubled by her show of interest in this 
 stranger. 
 
 "Is it?" she asked. "I'm glad I've at last hit 
 upon one thing that's right." She started toward 
 the door only to stop on the threshold. " I came to 
 you. men for information," she said deliberately,
 
 A WARNING 41 
 
 " and, when I was serious for the first time in my 
 life, you've laughed at me. Now I'll heap a whole 
 camp fire on your heads: You're underestimating 
 a man." 
 
 Mr. Norton took his pipe from his mouth and 
 stared at her while Mr. Sheffield whistled in open 
 surprise. Bennitt, alone, appeared unmoved by her 
 cool indignation. " Wait a minute, Betty," he said 
 gently. " We're all indebted to you for your warn- 
 ing, and I know Bob's sorry he teased you. We 
 know all about Danforth and his railroad; it's our 
 business to know such things in time. He's a young 
 engineer who made quite a name under Knight of 
 the Trans-Dominion in the Canadian Northwest. 
 Last spring he met with some sort of accident 
 was hit on the head or something and I imagine 
 this idea of a wilderness road is the fruit of a bruised 
 brain. He was born somewhere up here; Sykes 
 knew his father. Bring him into camp by all means ; 
 he's a gentleman. But don't put too much faith in 
 his visions. Visions have a trait of ending 
 abruptly." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Bennitt." 
 
 " You needn't. I'm always glad to tell you what 
 I can; so are all the rest of the boys. But just re- 
 member we're old fellows now and the temptation to 
 tease a pretty girl is extremely difficult to withstand. 
 Eh, Bob?"
 
 42 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " One of the few things I dare take oath to, Dan. 
 But as long as you've assumed the role of the 
 babbling brook why not tell her the rest ? " 
 
 " The rest ? " she exclaimed. " What ? " 
 
 Mr. Bennitt smiled contentedly and then deliber- 
 ately bit the end from a fat cigar. " The other day, 
 my dear, you gave Young Dan some exceedingly 
 good, and, I am sorry to say, some habitually un- 
 heeded advice. You suggested that he go to work. 
 Well, he came to Brother Sykes and me and asked 
 us for a chance. We have no big projects on at the 
 moment and this road to Le Reve is really too small 
 to permit him to show what I believe is his real 
 ability, but, as it was all there was, he asked that it 
 be turned over to him to handle. We agreed." 
 
 Her lips had parted and her eyes grown big, and 
 now her startled little " Oh ! " struck Bennitt as 
 peculiar. " Don't you approve ? " he asked with a 
 trace of anxiety which made Sheffield jump. 
 
 "Absolutely," she cried. "Absolutely." And 
 turning on her heel, she ran through the boat-house 
 toward the Norton camp. 
 
 " Lord ! " exclaimed Mr. Bennitt, " that cub of 
 mine doesn't deserve such luck." 
 
 " He'll come out all right, Dan, old chap," asserted 
 Mr. Norton loyally. " Betty's right. What we've 
 got to do is give him more chances. He's bound 
 to make good ; it's in the blood."
 
 A WARNING 43 
 
 Mr. Sheffield rose deliberately, and, stretching his 
 arms above his head, yawned loudly. " Something 
 tells me," he observed, " that if, as Betty said, we're 
 underestimating a man, we're also overlooking the 
 fact that a girl's turned into a woman. I'm afraid 
 of women that's why I'm going home before I'm 
 sent for."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 
 
 FOR the first time in all her years at Idylwild, 
 Betty Norton found herself out of tune with her sur- 
 roundings. A vague feeling of unrest urged her 
 from a solitary supper out onto the veranda. Across 
 the still lake the huge, black mass of spruce rolled 
 upward to the granite ridges of Saddleback, and, as 
 she drank in the majesty of the sweep, a half-weary 
 smile crept over her troubled face. It seemed that 
 there before her Nature reared her prototype of the 
 Idylwild men black, grim, implacable and, above 
 all, immovable in their well-nigh irresistible might. 
 
 Of one thing, at least, she was convinced. At 
 Idyl Island she was still considered only a curious 
 child, and, as such, was to be teased, humored or 
 petted by men who were all-sufficient unto them- 
 selves. Only too well they had just driven that 
 home. Their absorption of everything which came 
 within their far-reaching grasp had made possible 
 the fulfillment of her every whim, but now that she 
 fully realized that this same system took for granted 
 
 the subserviency of her very individuality, she 
 
 44
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 45 
 
 revolted. They had formed her ideas, but they 
 should not mold her ideals. It was hers to judge 
 for herself what was right just as it had always 
 seemed theirs to make right by might. Mr. Ben- 
 nitt's paternal exposition of the Idylwild viewpoint, 
 her father's careless indifference to Danforth's proj- 
 ect, and Mr. Sheffield's attitude of mockery, con- 
 vinced her that an attack was formulated which they 
 considered her unable to comprehend. Whatever it 
 was, she knew them well enough to appreciate that 
 arguments or explanations would be wasted upon 
 them. Their collective mind was made up. 
 
 And as she stood there among the protecting 
 shadows, her hands gripping the rustic rail, her head 
 thrown back, she knew that her mind, too, was made. 
 It came to her as a shock this realization that she 
 was a rebel to caste and an advocate of a thing which 
 struck at the very fundamentals of the Idylwild 
 philosophy. Success was not to be measured by 
 cold, clanking dollars nor power by the number of 
 servitors who bent the knee but by the accomplish- 
 ment of work untainted with the tang of selfishness 
 and sweetened with the taste of legitimate profits 
 equitably distributed. If a tinge of the socialistic 
 permeated her new-grasped belief it was because 
 as yet she did not fully understand herself. But she 
 did understand understand and acknowledge 
 that her whole attitude had changed and that as she
 
 46 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 now felt, she was ready to sacrifice even Idylwild 
 for an ideal. 
 
 To succeed in what she then but dimly understood, 
 she had been ready to employ all the girlish fascina- 
 tions which, heretofore, had been sufficient. And 
 she had been defeated on her chosen field. Now she 
 looked for a weaker link in their armor, and she 
 remembered that the death warrant of the road to 
 Le Reve had been entrusted to Dan Bennitt. 
 
 Not waiting even to catch up a scarf, she ran 
 across the lawns toward the club house. The 
 younger Bennitt, if not dancing, would be half -asleep 
 over an auction table and her nod would bring him 
 to her. Yet as the jangle of syncopation struck her 
 ears she checked her impetuous rush, realizing that 
 her attack must not be headlong, even against de- 
 fenses she knew to be deeply undermined. No one 
 ever accused the elder Benniti of being a fool but 
 once, and Young Dan was at least a happy-go-lucky 
 argument for the theories of heredity. 
 
 Much to her relief, she discovered him seated 
 alone on the steps, a cigarette in his fingers and a 
 frankly bored expression on a face which, while 
 rather appealing, still lacked the family strength of 
 character. 
 
 " I've been playing bridge with Mrs. Bob and I'm 
 a poor man," he called, patting the step beside him 
 invitingly. " Nevertheless, I've a dollar left which
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 47 
 
 says you don't want to dance. What's been keeping 
 you out of your place in the sun all day? " 
 
 " Been fishing," she answered, sinking down be- 
 side him with a contented little sigh. 
 
 " So I heard." 
 
 " What do you mean ? What did you hear ? " 
 
 He snapped the cigarette far out onto the grass, 
 and, folding his hands between his knees, gazed 
 thoughtfully at his pumps. " Bet," he asked, " has 
 it ever entered your head that some of our guides 
 may not be quite straight? " 
 
 " It certainly hasn't. It's about the last thing in 
 the world I'd think." 
 
 "It's about the last thing I want to think," he 
 agreed. " But you must admit there's temptation 
 enough. We're spraddled all over the map and 
 there' re places none of us ever go. Incidentally, 
 we've about the best fishing in the country." 
 
 " You mean you think poachers are in again? " 
 
 " I didn't say that. I've sort of been thinking 
 things out backwards. If I didn't have fishing, and 
 I wanted it, and some more lucky cuss had it, seems 
 to me I might be tempted to discover what a twenty 
 dollar bill, properly introduced, might have tucked 
 away in its little pocket." 
 
 " You're saying that some of our men would take 
 a bribe, Dan?" 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. " Every one has his
 
 48 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 price. I wouldn't blame a guide for taking a chance. 
 Money doesn't talk up in the country back of us, it 
 yells for companionship." 
 
 " Don't be cynical," she commanded, " and do be 
 frank. We've both known the majority of the men 
 on the Island since we were kiddies. You can't 
 find a more loyal lot anywhere. And as for their 
 being honest well, I'd hate to be the one to sug- 
 gest the reverse to any one of them. That is, 
 Dan," she added hastily, " unless you know some- 
 thing you haven't told me." 
 
 " What happened this afternoon, Betty ? " 
 
 The very quietness of the question startled her, 
 but she could see no connection between it and the 
 matter under discussion, yet instantly decided to 
 accept the opening. " I caught a three pounder in 
 the second pool. What's that got to do with the 
 guides? Rufe was with me, and certainly no one 
 would ever accuse him of anything. They'd have 
 to fight me, too," she laughed. 
 
 " Maybe I'm wrong," he admitted. " Last week 
 I overheard something which made me decidedly 
 auspicious of young Chase." 
 
 " Come out into the open ! " she ordered. " It's 
 not like you to beat the bushes. What's happened ? 
 Tell me." 
 
 " If I do, you'll slay me," he laughed, " and if I 
 don't, you'll tease me to tell until I commit suicide
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 49 
 
 by doing it. I'll take a chance, though. On the 
 way over here I ran across Nate and Rufe in the 
 grove behind the guides' camp. Never saw either 
 of them off the boat-house veranda of an evening 
 before. That gave me my first jolt. The second 
 came when they stopped whispering as they saw 
 me and looked about as innocent as a pair of Tom 
 cats caught with the canary. And when I tried to 
 jolly them," he added, " neither would say a word, 
 even when I told Rufe I'd overheard him say some- 
 thing about meeting some one. Those two old fel- 
 lows are all right, of course, but Chase is Nate's 
 nephew and " He shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 The girl bit her lip. " Ned Chase is straight," 
 she affirmed. " But there was a man on the stream 
 this afternoon. I not only saw him, I talked with 
 him." 
 
 " Every one knows our rules against trespass, 
 What was he doing there ? " 
 
 "I didn't ask him what he was doing; I didn't 
 have to. He told me unasked. He was after his 
 supper. I gave him my trout; so, you see, he's no 
 poacher." 
 
 " You're about as clever at evading rules as you 
 are at dodging a question. Who was the hungry 
 stranger? " 
 
 " Mr. Danforth." 
 
 Bennitt glanced at her curiously. " They say he's
 
 50 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 a pleasant sort of chap," he commented. " I don't 
 suppose he told you why he's snooping round Idyl- 
 wild?" 
 
 " I drew my own conclusions. I imagine it has 
 something to do with that road he is going to build 
 to Le Reve." 
 
 " I didn't know he was going to build one," he 
 said with a grimness which sounded like an echo of 
 her father. 
 
 " He said he was. He rather impressed me as a 
 man who might do the things he says he'll do. But, 
 of course, I'm not supposed to know about any- 
 thing." 
 
 " Who's the cynic now ? " he inquired. " What 
 do you want to know? I'll tell you what I can. 
 They've put the smothering of this little scheme into 
 my capable hands. Which goes to prove," he added, 
 with a spiritless laugh, " that no one takes it over- 
 seriously." 
 
 "And is that all their fault, Dan?" she asked 
 quickly. 
 
 " No, I don't suppose it is," he admitted. " I 
 don't suppose I'm what would be termed a lifelike 
 replica of the busy bee. But, after all, Bet, I'm just 
 low-lived enough to claim it isn't all my fault. I 
 haven't been brought up exactly like a horny-handed 
 son of toil. I did manage to snare a Harvard di- 
 ploma, but that was because I had money enough to
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 51 
 
 hire relays of tutors. Since then I've sharpened 
 countless unoffending lead pencils under the moth- 
 erly supervision of a darn fool private secretary 
 when, all the time I've been aching to get into 
 the game and show I'm father's son instead of hav- 
 ing him pat me on the head and announce that fact 
 with a grandiloquent lack of shame." 
 
 " I suppose that's their way of breaking you in," 
 she said wearily. " I don't understand all their 
 ways, either." 
 
 " You bet you don't; you or any one. If a man 
 could, he'd be about the most successful thing in the 
 country, for he'd be able to make them split him out 
 a fat share of the plunder to keep his mouth shut." 
 
 " You don't mean that. If any one didn't know 
 you, he'd think money was the only thing that 
 counted." 
 
 " I'm not going to prove my imbecility by floun- 
 dering round in an academic debate," he declared, 
 " but I'm sure enough of my own humble intellect to 
 know that, given you and half a chance to make 
 money enough to get you everything you could think 
 you thought you wanted, I'd not stay awake nights 
 worrying about what the obituary writers were 
 going to say." 
 
 "Dan!" 
 
 " No, you're not shocked either," he laughed. 
 " It's the good old creed you've been brought up on
 
 52 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 with all the trimmings in the way of college endow- 
 ments and free libraries deleted. And in the simple 
 language of the low-brow it is called * Me for me 
 and yours, if I can grab it.' It's a pretty good old 
 doctrine, too. It's * the survival of the fittest ' 
 adapted to an age in which brains have replaced 
 clubs." 
 
 " But, Dan," she gasped, " you can't mean 
 that!" 
 
 " I do mean it," he stated emphatically. " I mean 
 it so much that it makes me hot under the collar be- 
 cause I'm not allowed to get out and practice it in- 
 stead of being kept in the office nursery and told to 
 watch the game through the window till I'm too old 
 to get into the melee and either get mauled or come 
 out with a wad of my own. Hanged if I don't be- 
 lieve it's father's idea to develop me into a sort of 
 negative guardian for his pile when it becomes an 
 orphan! And that's not my idea not by a long 
 shot. He gave me the Bennitt name, just as he 
 plans to leave me the Bennitt wad, and, as long as he 
 considers me fit to care for them he ought to give me 
 credit for wanting to pull a corner of the Bennitt 
 mantle around my own shoulders. He made his; 
 why shouldn't I make mine? " 
 
 " You should. You should, and I know you will. 
 But you haven't got to pyramid fortunes in order to 
 be called successful. There "
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 53 
 
 " I don't care what I'm called," he broke in. 
 " No man who's lived here can be thin-skinned. 
 But I do care what I call myself. And I don't con- 
 sider any man a man who's content to sit back and 
 dare others to come take it away from him. I'm a 
 Bennitt, and I want to succeed. And success is 
 money, for money is power and power is success. 
 It's a compact circle and there isn't a dent in it." 
 
 " No," she agreed sadly, " not a single dent. But 
 it's the smallest and most selfish circle I ever heard 
 of, and I hate to believe you'd bound your person- 
 ality by such crippling ideals." 
 
 " Oh, I haven't any ideals," he said impatiently ; 
 " not the sort you read about, anyway. What's the 
 use in talking this sort of rot? It doesn't lead any- 
 where." 
 
 " It does lead somewhere," she contradicted, " and 
 it isn't rot. If we're going to spend the rest of our 
 lives together the sooner we thrash out our ideas of 
 right and wrong, the better. Neither of us is the 
 sort to be content to sit in front of an open fire and 
 hold hands every evening. If we're going to be 
 comrades, Dan, just as we've always tried to be, only 
 more so, we've got to have common interests and a 
 common faith. You're angry about something now, 
 and you're just talking to get rid of your temper, 
 and you don't mean what you say, and you have got 
 ideals."
 
 54 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Only you don't approve of 'em," he laughed, 
 leaning over and taking her irresponsive hand, " and 
 you've made up your nice, clean little mind to make 
 your theories ours." 
 
 " No," she said soberly, " every one's a right to his 
 or her conception of things. Only I know yours is 
 warped. The Idylwild schooling has eaten deeper 
 than you imagine, and your fight is coming when you 
 realize your selfishness and try to win your way 
 back." 
 
 " Selfishness ? I'm not selfish. That's the one 
 thing I've never been accused of." 
 
 " But you are." 
 
 " Prove it." 
 
 " Well, for one thing," she said very slowly, pull- 
 ing her hand away and refusing to look at him, 
 " you're selfish about this railroad. Don't you think 
 you should be broad enough to hear the other side 
 before you act ? " 
 
 " You evidently have," he retorted with a bitter- 
 ness which warned her she had made the error of 
 awakening his ever-present jealousy. 
 
 " I have," she acknowledged with a reckless disre- 
 gard for consequences which shocked her. " There 
 is a good deal in it which you would do well to con- 
 sider," she continued earnestly. " It is no wildcat 
 scheme, Dan, but the sober resolve of an intelligent 
 man to help the many as well as himself. It's a
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 55 
 
 concrete example of the very principle I've tried 
 to explain." 
 
 " Danforth's apparently a glib talker," he 
 observed. " It's reputed to be a promoter's chief 
 stock in trade. But, Betty," he went on, pleadingly, 
 " don't be so easily taken into camp. There's noth- 
 ing to it but a crude attempt to " 
 
 " I've heard all that before," she interrupted 
 sharply, " and I've told your father he's mistaken, 
 but he wouldn't believe me." 
 
 " And you expect me to? " 
 
 "Won't you?" 
 
 " I'm afraid, my dear," he said, " it will take even 
 more than Danforth's arguments on your lips to do 
 that." 
 
 She rose abruptly, and, standing on the lower 
 step, looked up into his face. " And have you heard 
 the altruistic side ? " she asked. 
 
 "If you mean the socialistic bait, I have. It's 
 rot. It takes money to build a road, more than a 
 bunch of backwoodsmen could dig up." 
 
 " Outside capital is easily secured." 
 
 " Not when the Idylwild crowd shake their heads. 
 For once," he said, getting to his feet, " I know what 
 I'm talking about. I've gone over it all with father 
 and old Sanctimonious and I've my orders." 
 
 " Orders ! " she cried. " Orders ! Just now you 
 were complaining because you always had to act on
 
 56 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 orders. They've given you this as a chance to 
 show your ability. Take it, Dan, and surprise 
 them, as well as yourself, by showing your real 
 size." 
 
 " That's just what I intend to do." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " By squelching this plot." 
 
 " And so show that your size is exactly according 
 to their specifications," she exclaimed. " Don't you 
 see your real chance? Don't you comprehend that 
 here's real success staring you in the eyes? Don't 
 you appreciate that by putting selfish interests in the 
 background you can take your place among men who 
 are doing something for others as well as for them- 
 selves ? " 
 
 " Betty! " he said in amazement. " Why, Betty ! 
 Are you insane? Do you realize you're more than 
 suggesting I could turn traitor? " 
 
 " Not to yourself," she argued intensely, " not to 
 your true self, Dan." 
 
 " I'd like to think you're only tired," he said, as 
 if dazed; " I'd like to believe that." 
 
 " I am tired of all this constant talk of money 
 and ever-present belief that no one else is ever right. 
 And now, when the chance comes for you to break 
 away from it and strike out toward real success, 
 I've too much interest in you to see you turn your 
 back."
 
 A REBEL TO CASTE 57 
 
 " I prefer to turn my back rather than put a knife 
 in my father's." 
 
 " Oh, leave him out of it," she begged. " Can't 
 you do as I have and consider all the men here as 
 just methods personified? Can't you do that even 
 if you are unwilling to grant that for once they're 
 mistaken in the worth of something they're deter- 
 mined to crush? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "And you say you're unselfish! Dan," she 
 begged desperately, " can't you do it for me, if you 
 won't do it for yourself? " 
 
 "Do what?" 
 
 " Put a little faith in another man ; give him credit 
 for honesty; make an intelligent effort to grasp his 
 side of the problem ? If you'll do that you'll be con- 
 vinced that it's wrong to block this road to Le Reve ; 
 wrong and wickedly selfish. And, when that comes, 
 Dan, you'll take your place where you belong and 
 do all in your power to help instead of hinder. The 
 reward will be worth it. Think of the opportunities 
 which open ahead." 
 
 " Betty," he said coldly, " I'm willing to concede 
 one thing we've under-estimated Danforth's dan- 
 gerousness." 
 
 " Stop ! " she commanded, her body rigid with in- 
 dignation. " You've no right to say that." 
 
 "If I haven't, who has?"
 
 58 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " No one. At least I'm through having others 
 think for me." 
 
 " You're not proving it over-conclusively." 
 
 " Possibly I can as far as you're concerned," 
 she flared, and turned her back on him, her face re- 
 flecting his cold anger. 
 
 " Where are you going? " 
 
 " Away from you. And until you've learned to 
 act and think and be the man, you can stay away 
 from me." 
 
 His face white, he sprang after her, but neither 
 pleadings nor commands had the least effect, and it 
 was not until he had followed her almost to the 
 Norton camp that his own quick temper slipped its 
 fragile leash. " When you've had time to become 
 sane again," he said, " you'll regret all this. And 
 as for your friend Danforth, I'll run him out of 
 Idylwild." 
 
 She stopped, and, turning, looked at him from 
 head to foot with utter contempt. " You ? " she 
 sneered. "You!" 
 
 " Yes, me ! " he snapped. " I'm man enough for 
 that." 
 
 She laughed scornfully. " Indeed ! " she ex- 
 claimed. " How little you know yourself. Good 
 night."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 A PROPHECY 
 
 DAN BENNITT, alone once more, stood immovable 
 as he watched the indignantly erect little figure dis- 
 appear into the house. Now that she had the bit 
 between her teeth and was rushing headlong at 
 jumps which promised disaster for others as well as 
 herself, she had never seemed so entirely desirable. 
 For Bennitt, while he might be justly accused of 
 both physical and mental laziness, was at least big 
 enough to relish not only a show of spirit but to 
 sympathize with an exhibition of impetuous anger- 
 He had no yearning for a complacent wife; if he 
 wished to be bored, he could go to his senior clubs. 
 
 Even before the door slammed behind her, his 
 frown had given way to a tolerant smile and he had 
 decided to regard her outburst as merely one of her 
 impulsive whims, and, as such, to be forgotten. But 
 toward the cause of the whim his attitude was 
 vastly different. This anarchist stranger must be 
 immediately obliterated if for no other reason than 
 because he was a source of irritation. 
 
 69
 
 60 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 But the girl's mental attitude was far more tur- 
 bulent. She began to have vague feelings that she 
 had fired her bridges with a reckless hand, that her 
 impetuous acceptance of the ideal, for which she 
 had been so blindly groping, had caused her to utter 
 words which she might have left unsaid after calmer 
 sifting of her thoughts. At first, what she now ap- 
 preciated must have sounded like over-zealous 
 loyalty to a man, practically a stranger, frightened 
 her, but this fear gradually gave way to puzzling, 
 heart-searching, unbreathed questions which made 
 her quickly vow to dismiss Dan forth the man from 
 her mind and to salve her conscience by accepting 
 him merely as the representative of a much-to-be- 
 desired condition. But whatever might happen, one 
 result had already been obtained. She was free of 
 Bennitt. No man who held to the ideas he cham- 
 pioned could fill the void in her life. For the first 
 time she appreciated how small a place this some- 
 what informal engagement had filled in her heart, 
 how impossible it would have been to merge her 
 life with such a man as Dan Bennitt. 
 
 Yet the more she endeavored to dispersonate 
 Danforth, the more insistent became the memory of 
 the man's personality. Among all she knew was 
 none who had ever impressed her as being so vitally 
 earnest or so frankly straightforward. As she re- 
 called his expression, the unconcealed eagerness in
 
 A PROPHECY 61 
 
 his eyes and the firmness of his lips while he set 
 forth his case, she was sure that her inexplainable 
 and quickly given confidence could not have been 
 misplaced. Unlike Bennitt, she was certain that he 
 was working for unselfish ends. In that lay the 
 strength of his appeal. But when she attempted 
 further analysis she came face to face with the im- 
 possibility of disassociating plan and personality. 
 
 When dawn came over the spruce she was no 
 longer trying to justify her judgment or persuade 
 herself that she was no traitor to Idyl wild. That 
 appeared but a minor issue in the rosy light of a 
 new day. Her new-born individuality cried aloud 
 for recognition, and she knew which of the two 
 clearly blazed trails she must follow. 
 
 It was no novel experience for her to be well out 
 on the mist-hung lake to greet the September sun, 
 but this morning she dressed in greater haste and 
 crept out of the house with greater caution. Speed- 
 ing across the open lawns as if afraid of meeting 
 some other early angler, she turned into the path 
 to the guides' camp. As she passed the one-storied 
 log building old Rufe raised a dripping face from 
 the basin teetering on the bench by the door. 
 
 " Mornin', Betty," he called, shaking the suds 
 from his hands and rubbing gristly forearms across 
 dripping brows. " Sorter got the notion your 
 breakfast's waitin' out yonder? "
 
 62 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Hurry," she commanded evasively, and ran on 
 toward the boat-house. 
 
 He had not taught her the ways of the woods 
 without learning something in return. Anxiety 
 spread over his face, and, wiping his hands, he 
 hurried after her. "What's wrong?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 " Nothing everything. I don't know. Get 
 out a canoe." 
 
 In silence he obeyed, yet, when seated in the bow, 
 she shook her head at the offered rod, affection drove 
 him into open revolt. " Betty, what are you aimin' 
 to do?" 
 
 " Please don't waste time. Get in." 
 
 He stepped back, his face hard with determina- 
 tion. " Reckon we'd better understand each other 
 now. We ain't had no secrets so far. Where do 
 you want to go? " 
 
 " To the Falls," she said, as her eyes met his 
 defiantly. " I want to tell him to go." 
 
 " Get out," he ordered abruptly. " I'll go alone." 
 
 " He might misunderstand you." 
 
 " He might misunderstand more if we both 
 went." 
 
 Her head went back proudly. " He's not that 
 sort," she declared. 
 
 The old guide studied her for an instant, and 
 long years spent with her flashed through his mind
 
 A PROPHECY 63 
 
 in orderly review. His lips were tight shut and the 
 gray head shook. " I don't like it," he stated ; " I 
 don't" 
 
 "Rufe, please." 
 
 As always, her pleading conquered. He stepped 
 in and pushed off. " I don't like it," he muttered. 
 " I don't like it. But whatever you're up to I 
 reckon the old man can still take care o' you. Bend 
 your paddle. I'm goin' to be back here an hour 
 after sun." 
 
 Without a word they crossed to the shore, and, 
 in silence, parted the opaque mist which clung above 
 the dawn-kissed bog. The chill pierced her. The 
 lean, dead stumps at the mouth of the stream looked 
 like ghostly sentinels. The tinkling splash of rising 
 trout, the eyrie cry of a belated night hawk, the 
 whistling rustle of a bunch of hurrying duck, made 
 her, used to the wilderness as she was, feel strangely 
 inconsequential and lonesome. As the water quick- 
 ened and they heard the first faint murmur of the 
 distant falls she began to doubt the wisdom of her 
 plan, to regret that Rufe had been so loyal, and to 
 wish for the strength to whirl the bow back toward 
 Idyl Island. 
 
 The rush of the lower rapids checked their speed 
 and she sighed in sheer relief at Rufe's sharp com- 
 mand to ship her paddle. With a long, even sweep, 
 he poled up the white water. Ahead, through a
 
 64 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 curtain, half mist, half drifting spray, she saw the 
 pearl-like tumble of the savage falls, and above, its 
 brave old feet clamped to the rocky ledge, loomed 
 the lonely pine, its feathery crest a dull green plume 
 against the rosy sky. 
 
 "Hello!" 
 
 The cheery hail startled her, even though she had 
 been listening. On the edge of the high bank she 
 saw him, backed by the forest green, his hair still 
 wet from his morning plunge, his face gay as he 
 waved a welcome with a frying-pan. 
 
 " Are you the skirmish line of that threatened 
 posse ? " he called as he came crashing through the 
 brush. "If you are, come ashore and arbitrate or 
 breakfast. This morning I feel like peace at any 
 price." 
 
 " I'm glad of that," she said, all her courage 
 and determination returning; "yet, somehow, I'm 
 surprised. I rather gathered that that Oh, 
 well, that you were a sort of fighter to the last 
 ditch." 
 
 " I don't believe I quite understand, Miss Nor- 
 ton," he confessed, his tone clearly betraying his 
 bewilderment. " Surely," he added with a quick 
 laugh, " you're not an attacking craft plotting to go 
 into action without breaking out your battle flag? 
 If so, you certainly misjudge me. Come ashore 
 and accept my surrender. You said yourself," he
 
 A PROPHECY 65 
 
 reminded her hastily, " that conventions don't hold 
 beyond railhead, and poor Rufe looks famished." 
 
 " I be," growled the guide, " an' I'll be back to 
 the Island in time to eat." 
 
 " Mr. Danforth," broke in the girl, "my coming 
 here is sufficient proof of my contempt for conven- 
 tion, and Rufe's right about our getting back. I've 
 only a few minutes and much to say." 
 
 " Very well. But you know you would be very 
 welcome." 
 
 " Possibly you'll withdraw your hospitality. I've 
 done you a grave injustice and I've come to apolo- 
 gize." 
 
 " Miss Norton, you " 
 
 " Oh, don't let's waste time on banalities," she 
 protested. " It was necessary. I've thought it all 
 out and now I know. I've taken the narrow view 
 too long." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " That I'm through accepting the opinions of 
 others. That I'm through repeating their argu- 
 ments as if I were an echo. That I was entirely 
 wrong yesterday in saying what I did about the 
 road to Le Reve." 
 
 "Betty!" 
 
 "Miss Norton!" 
 
 " Let me go on," she begged. " It's not easy for 
 a girl to acknowledge she's been wrong all her life.
 
 66 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 But I have been. Now I'm through with selfish- 
 ness. My love for Idylwild blinded me. You're 
 right in what you're planning to do. I hope you 
 succeed." 
 
 Haley, his face as black as a thunder-cloud, dug 
 his pole into the stream. " Knew I'd done wrong," 
 he rumbled, so furious that she had humbled herself 
 that he entirely forgot she had but done the very 
 thing he had begged her to do. " We're goin' 
 home." 
 
 " We're not," she contradicted ; " I've more to 
 say." 
 
 " You shan't." 
 
 "Rufe!" 
 
 " Steve ! " His voice was almost pleading as he 
 turned to the younger man, but Danforth, still dumb 
 with amazement, could only shake his head. 
 
 " Neither of you understand," she said piteously, 
 "and I thought you both would. You've got to. 
 I've got to make you. It's all so clear to me 
 now." 
 
 " Stop, Betty," begged the old guide ; " stop. Try 
 to think what you're sayin'. You're tellin' us you're 
 a turncoat to your own." 
 
 " Turncoat ! You told me you were no turncoat. 
 Won't either of you give me credit for being able 
 to reason, either? Are all men alike? Why make 
 it so hard? First one explained, then the other
 
 A PROPHECY 67 
 
 begged, and now when I tell you I was in the wrong 
 you both appear to think me unbalanced. If I am, 
 you are, too. We all believe in the same thing 
 the road to Le Reve." 
 
 A change began to creep over Stephen Danforth's 
 face, and, stepping into the shallow water, he 
 reached out and deliberately drew in the bow of the 
 canoe until it rested on the pebbly beach. " All 
 my life," he said in a low, tense voice, " I've heard 
 stories of you. At Le Reve you're the fairy prin- 
 cess the children hear about as a reward for being 
 good. You women from the unknown world have 
 no idea how easily you step into folk-lore. Always 
 I've wanted to meet Betty Norton ; always I've been 
 afraid that when that day came I'd be disappointed. 
 I am the one who owes an apology for a grave in- 
 justice." 
 
 " I don't want compliments," she protested, her 
 face scarlet. 
 
 " It's not a compliment. We'll have the truth be- 
 tween us." 
 
 " That," she stated, " is what I want." 
 
 She was conscious of the powerful hands grip- 
 ping the gunnel at her side, of the whip-cord muscles 
 which stood out on the bare fore-arms, and of the 
 tenseness of his whole body, but her eyes saw only 
 the steady, resolute gleam in his eyes as he stooped 
 over her. " Miss Norton," he said, drawing a
 
 68 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 breath as does a diver who is about to plunge, 
 " half truths can be very brutal. You've told me a 
 good deal ; will you tell me more ? " 
 
 " If I can," she answered evenly. 
 
 Haley, in the stern, growled like a shackled beast 
 as he shifted his position, but Dan forth watched 
 only the girl. " You've said," he began, " that you 
 can find some justice in my determination to build a 
 road to Le Reve. I'm not so conceited as to pre- 
 sume that what I said has changed your mind or 
 so unjust as to imagine that the under dog has 
 claimed your sympathy. If either could be true, 
 I'd tell you bluntly we are not in need of hollow 
 moral support. But what I want to believe, what 
 I do believe yet what I want you to assure me I 
 am right in believing is that I understand you 
 correctly in believing it is your innate sense of 
 justice which has made you appreciate the need of 
 this road, that it is your breadth of mind, not your 
 sympathies, which makes you grant the right of all 
 to equal opportunities, and that you are convinced 
 that we are going ahead from these motives and not 
 solely for financial gain." 
 
 " You've put it far better than I could," she 
 acknowledged, " but I'm afraid you're crediting me 
 with greater depths than I can hope to attain. I've 
 thought things over ; I've seen my mistakes ; I know 
 that, while I believe in this road, I believe far more
 
 A PROPHECY 69 
 
 in the things it represents. And I'm not being a 
 traitor to my friends; I'm being true to myself. 
 That's why I came here this morning. I wanted 
 you to know the Idylwild men are already making 
 counter-plans. I don't know what they are; if they 
 had told me I wouldn't repeat them to you. I've got 
 to play a difficult part, and I'll play it according to 
 my own ideas of right and wrong. But what I 
 can tell you is that I think they're ready to act. I 
 don't think you are." 
 
 " We're not," he said slowly. " It will be a 
 month or more before our plans are perfected. 
 Money has been our greatest obstacle. What we 
 could scrape together at Le Reve and don't think 
 all of them have not gone as far as they could 
 has been but little more than enough to cover the 
 rough preliminaries. To actually build means capi- 
 tal." 
 
 "Can you get it?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Will you tell me where? " 
 
 " Certainly. Nathan Mittendorf, the junior 
 member of Mittendorf & Son, in New York, is a 
 friend of mine. I knew him in the Northwest. 
 I've put it up to him, and he's practically agreed to 
 underwrite our bonds. With such backing the stock 
 will take care of itself, and Mittendorf will take 
 the financial worries off my shoulders. What I
 
 70 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 chiefly dread is the thought of a possible fight over 
 the right of way." 
 
 " Mittendorf ? Mittendorf ? " she repeated. " Oh, 
 now I remember. Don't trust them," she begged 
 impulsively, " don't. They'll be ordered to keep 
 their hands off. Mr. Sykes owns old Mr. Mitten- 
 dorf body and soul. I know," she insisted ; " I re- 
 member more now. I " 
 
 " Wait ! " he commanded sharply. " I can't let 
 you tell me more in fairness to you. I'm not even 
 sure I should remember what you have said." 
 
 " Why not ? I don't know much about business, 
 but what little I've been permitted to come in con- 
 tact with has certainly shown that no one stops to 
 consider the splitting of hairs when the head beneath 
 them is at stake." 
 
 " I don't know but you're right," he admitted. 
 " The practical shouldn't be confused with the 
 altruistic. Yet I'm fool enough to prefer to lean 
 backwards rather than stoop too low." 
 
 "Of course you are," she cried. " But you've 
 got to fight with familiar weapons until you've 
 tested the new ones. You can't trust the Mitten- 
 dorfs. I know." 
 
 " Then we don't agree. Nate Mittendorf is my 
 friend." 
 
 " His father's Sanctimonious Sykes's pet jackal." 
 
 " I don't believe you."
 
 A PROPHECY 71 
 
 " All right," she said, a queer little smile playing 
 about the corners of her mouth ; " I hope I'm wrong. 
 But it will take more than your faith in human 
 nature to convince me." 
 
 " You'll be convinced in good time," he asserted, 
 " you've got to be. You can't doubt the stone 
 you're putting into the corner. I won't even con- 
 sider the possibility of their failing us now. 
 They've gone too far." 
 
 " But you must consider it," she declared. 
 " Surely you appreciate the necessity of being pre- 
 pared against every emergency. I tell you again 
 that you're badly underestimating men who are 
 ready to become open opponents. It's fair for me 
 to tell you that, for I've given them exactly the same 
 warning. They're not going to sit back and watch 
 you do what you choose with Idylwild. If they can, 
 they'll block your opening move. If they fail there 
 and they won't admit the possibility of failure 
 any more than you will they'll attack from am- 
 bush. I know their ways. I've heard their stories 
 of how their mercenaries have done battle and I 
 can see both the mercenary and the ambush in Mit- 
 tendorf. Even if you do succeed in holding him 
 loyal through friendship, that will be but the open- 
 ing skirmish. When the real fight comes there'll 
 be no quarter asked, and you may be sure none 
 will be given."
 
 72 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " I don't and won't think that it will come to a 
 fight," he answered with conviction. " But don't 
 get the impression that I've gone into this head- 
 long, that I've no knowledge of conditions and no 
 appreciation of risks. I'm no Don Quixote tilting 
 against buzz saws with theories; I've been roughed 
 by the world; I've been in several sorts of fights. 
 I haven't gathered fame or money enough to bother 
 me, but I have accumulated a knowledge of hu- 
 manity which has stood me in good stead so far, 
 and I've found that the bigger and more powerful 
 the man, the more willing he is to listen to reason. 
 It's only the man with nothing to lose who's willing 
 to risk his all. I've a sound business proposition, 
 and, when the time comes to present it, I know it 
 will be listened to, and I don't and won't believe 
 that men of your father's ability and acumen will 
 reject it." 
 
 "They will." 
 
 " We seem bound to differ." 
 
 " Only on the means to the end," she answered 
 quickly. 
 
 " What do you suggest ? " 
 
 " Oh," she exclaimed, " I can't offer any sugges- 
 tions ! " 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Why ? How could I ? I don't know anything 
 about business."
 
 A PROPHECY 73 
 
 " You under-estimate yourself." 
 
 " No, I don't. I confess," she added frankly, 
 " that I'm surprised to find how much I've assim- 
 ilated from conversations I've been forced to over- 
 hear without knowing I took the least interest in 
 them. But it's all a veneer. You can't expect I'd 
 presume to offer advice. If I did, and you took it, 
 we'd we'd better stick to possibilities," she fin- 
 ished with a contented little laugh. 
 
 " Again I don't agree with you." 
 
 " Is that a characteristic or a budding habit? " 
 
 " Neither," he retorted, straightening and stand- 
 ing at his full height. " It's an acknowledgment 
 of rudeness; I'd forgotten that I was talking with 
 a girl!" 
 
 " That," she said, " is the finest compliment I've 
 ever had." 
 
 In the instant he looked down into the depths of 
 the frank brown eyes it flooded over him how ut- 
 terly impossible it would be for him ever to pay 
 her that homage again. Her intellect would grow, 
 her newly-rooted conceptions of life would broaden, 
 and her earnestness of purpose would increase, and, 
 while this was happening, the sweetness of the girl 
 would blossom into the maturer tenderness and 
 steadfast loyalty of a woman who would be both 
 comrade and inspiration. 
 
 She saw his jaw grow square, and, taking it for
 
 74 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 a visible sign of his determination to carry through 
 his argument, was startled at the unexpected grim- 
 ness of his tone when, at length, he spoke. " You're 
 right," he admitted, " I'd better think only of pos- 
 sibilities. I'd like you to see the maps." 
 
 " I'm afraid that must wait." 
 
 "You're going?" 
 
 " 'Bout time," grunted Rufe. 
 
 " Yes," she said, nodding to Haley to push off 
 as she picked up her paddle. " I must get back 
 to the Island. I should have gone before. Mr. 
 Dan forth, will you grant me one more favor? " 
 
 "A dozen." 
 
 " Go, too. Don't ask why, but just go." 
 
 " But I shall return," he prophesied as he stepped 
 back. 
 
 "Of course you will," she agreed as the water 
 widened between them, " of course you will. 
 You're coming back to build the road." 
 
 " Yes," he repeated slowly, " to finish a road to 
 Le Reve."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 MILLSTONES AND MILESTONES 
 
 BECAUSE a man does not turn his head is no sign 
 he is unconscious of a canoe stealing across the 
 mouth of a cove or ignorant of the identity of its 
 occupants. Yet this undisputable evidence that 
 Betty Norton had been back to Lone Pine pool at 
 dawn so troubled Mr. Sheffield that his sport lost 
 flavor and he returned to the Island to carry out 
 the time-honored custom of sharing his worries 
 with his wife. For them Betty had grown to fill 
 the place of the child they had so desired, and Shef- 
 field made no attempt to conceal his anxiety over 
 this latest display of the girl's disregard of both 
 appearances and caution. 
 
 But Mrs. Sheffield, contemptuous of surface rip- 
 ples, plunged for the center of disturbance. Nor 
 was she long in convincing her husband that, no 
 matter what had occurred, the younger Bennitt was 
 at fault. For several years neither had made more 
 than a superficial effort to hide a growing intol- 
 erance for the youth. And when it had become 
 
 evident that the Norton and Bennitt families were 
 
 75
 
 76 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 doing all in their power to develop a childhood 
 friendship into what could be termed only a matri- 
 monial alliance, the Sheffields had said little but 
 had said that little bluntly. 
 
 Now that Mrs. Bob suspected that Betty was 
 doing wild things from pique it took her but a few 
 seconds to decide that some opening wedge had 
 been driven into a hopeful quarrel and the possi- 
 bility of splitting that knot wider was too alluring 
 to be neglected. Therefore she gathered up loose 
 reins, and, within the week, the advance guard of 
 one of her famous house parties began to traverse 
 the trail into Idylwild. 
 
 Although by Saturday afternoon even the club 
 camp was overflowing, Mrs. Bob was anything but 
 satisfied. Betty Norton was taking scant interest 
 in the quickly organized activities, and the canoes 
 were to meet but one more invoice of guests. If 
 this did not include the three she had built her 
 plan around she appreciated that she might face 
 her first social and strategic failure. And such a 
 thought was not soothing to a woman of her 
 cleverness. 
 
 Therefore it was with more than the usual anx- 
 iety of a hostess that she strolled to the landing 
 at sunset. As she came down the broad steps from 
 the boat-house a long, lean, solemn-faced man was 
 projecting himself from a wobbling canoe while a
 
 MILLSTONES 77 
 
 merry- faced girl offered him wondrous advice. 
 Even the solemn guides were shaking silently. 
 
 Mrs. Sheffield's face fell. Hurrying along the 
 float, she caught the man by his sleeve. " Where," 
 she demanded, "is Cyril Baring?" 
 
 " Thanks," he retorted, lifting his hat ; " we're 
 exactly as glad to be here. Are the mosquitoes as 
 bad as ever, dear lady ? " 
 
 "Marian," she cried, " where's Mr. Baring?" 
 
 Mrs. James Wentworth stepped lightly from the 
 canoe to kiss her hostess with real enthusiasm. 
 "How should I know?" she asked. "What's 
 doing?" 
 
 Mrs. Sheffield looked from one perfectly groomed 
 figure to the other and a terrible suspicion gripped 
 her. " You know I'm overjoyed to see you both, 
 but" 
 
 ;< You act it," observed Jimmie Wentworth dryly. 
 
 " But," she went on, ignoring him, " kindly be 
 sane for one short minute and tell me what I wired 
 you." 
 
 * To come to Idylwild for a party," both promptly 
 retorted. 
 
 "What else?" 
 
 " That," said Wentworth gallantly, " was 
 enough." 
 
 " Have you two impossible children the audacity 
 to tell me you were too lazy even to read a telegram
 
 78 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 through?" she gasped, doing her best not to let 
 amusement conquer her indignation. 
 
 " I think," confessed Wentworth thoughtfully, 
 " I think that telegram was brought to me. I was 
 extremely busy that morning." 
 
 "Doing what?" 
 
 " Oh, don't be disagreeable," he chuckled. 
 
 She bit her lip. After all, it was a marvel that 
 either had bothered to open the message. If they 
 had a mission in the romp they dignified by calling 
 life it was to bring their friends to the verge of 
 nervous prostration. Yet every one loved the care- 
 free, generous pair, Mrs. Sheffield a trifle more than 
 the majority. 
 
 " Marian," she sighed, grasping Mrs. Went- 
 worth's arm and starting toward the camp, " you'd 
 make a most appealing widow." 
 
 "I, too, have thought so at times," she ad- 
 mitted. " Pardon us, but in our gratitude for your 
 warm welcome we've neglected to be politely in- 
 terested in your affairs. Why this yearning for 
 Cyril Baring?" 
 
 " I need him." 
 
 "Won't Jimmie do?" 
 
 " He will not. I absolutely and utterly refuse 
 to be a home-breaker." 
 
 " Keep still ! " commanded his wife. " You were 
 the bait in the trap. Now we've got to use finesse."
 
 MILLSTONES 79 
 
 " Finesse it is. Mrs. Bob, why do you need the 
 handsome Cyril ? " 
 
 The older woman stopped. " Do you two know 
 young Dan Bennitt ? " 
 
 " Will it be used against us if we plead guilty? " 
 asked Wentworth cautiously. 
 
 "Oh!" exclaimed his wife. "Betty? Why 
 mourn Baring? Last summer we were blackballed 
 for the Lend-a-Hand society. We're receptive can- 
 didates for the Idylwild branch." 
 
 " Come along," ordered Jimmie Wentworth im- 
 patiently, "you've mixed your hands again; we're 
 invited to play the Black." 
 
 " Wait! " cried Mrs. Sheffield. 
 
 " For what ? We may be most of the things 
 people call us, but we're not examples of an em- 
 balmer's art. Just forget your little worries. 
 When my capable wife and her equally willing hus- 
 band sound the recall, the Idylwild Romeo will be 
 perched in the pompadour of your tallest spruce and 
 the lady in the case will be ordering illuminated 
 testimonials of thanks." 
 
 " But, Jimmie," she protested, " let me explain ; 
 let me tell you." 
 
 " You tell us you're glad we're here," suggested 
 Mrs. Wentworth. " Sometimes even a polite lie 
 is admissible." 
 
 " I give up! " groaned Mrs. Sheffield. " I ought
 
 80 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 to have had more sense. Bob begged me not to 
 invite you." 
 
 " Oh, did he ! Come along, Jimmie. Let's find 
 the dear man and build a few live fires on his head. 
 Maybe we won't have such a stupid time as we 
 expected." And, putting her arm around her host- 
 ess, she led her away to the camp. 
 
 Even before her dinner-party was in full swing, 
 Mrs. Sheffield became convinced that the manage- 
 ment of her carefully planned stage had been 
 whirled out of her hands by this pair of gay far- 
 ceurs who seemed intent on producing burlesque 
 one moment and tragedy the next. Miss Norton 
 had been overjoyed at seeing them again, and, to 
 her, their arrival was a complete surprise. Marian 
 Wentworth had long been one of her intimates, and 
 Jimmie was one of the men who seem to be able 
 to say or do anything and still increase his popular- 
 ity with his wife's friends. The one thing Mrs. 
 Sheffield found to rejoice over was that the Went- 
 worths had apparently forgotten the existence of 
 Dan Bennitt. They had not even expressed sur- 
 prise when told that he was not to be included 
 among those to gather around the big dinner table. 
 
 It was Mrs. Wentworth who unearthed the story 
 of Betty's first fishing venture from Mr. Sheffield, 
 and Mrs. Bob, at the other end of the room, lost 
 all interest in the story young Landers was telling.
 
 MILLSTONES 81 
 
 But before she could annihilate her garrulous hus- 
 band with a glance, the younger woman switched the 
 conversation with a skill which sent an apprehen- 
 sive shudder through her. Mrs. Bob knew that 
 the Wentworth magazines were now full, for 
 Marian was not one who needed to consult an as- 
 trologer to be sure two and two still made four. 
 
 An hour later she was given still greater cause 
 for concern. Having piloted her guests to the 
 club-house for a dance, the Wentworths lost no 
 time in pouncing on Dan Bennitt. 
 
 "You're a fine sort of friend, aren't you?" 
 charged Mrs. Wentworth with just the right amount 
 of injured dignity in her tone. "Don't you think 
 it would have been at least polite to have been down 
 at the dock to tell us you were glad to see us 
 again?" 
 
 " That's right," Bennitt retorted with a good- 
 natured laugh, " you get mad, too. I'm about as 
 popular here now as a sixth card in a poker hand." 
 
 " Dan," she asked, her innocent blue eyes widen- 
 ing, " do you mean to tell me you've been quarrel- 
 ing with Betty again ? " 
 
 " Of course he doesn't," asserted Wentworth. 
 " No man would tell you such a thing. It's a 
 secret." 
 
 " Oh, I love secrets ! Jimmie, you capture Bet 
 and bring her here."
 
 82 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Hold on ! " cried Bennitt as Wentworth eluded 
 his grasp and darted away. " Don't start any of 
 your circus tricks; things are bad enough now." 
 
 " Do you really mean Betty is being unreason- 
 able?" 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. " I won't even do 
 her that injustice. Possibly she's waked up to the 
 fact that I'm no-account." 
 
 " Then," stated Mrs. Wentworth, " it's up to us 
 to show her you're not." 
 
 " For heaven's sake, let me manage my own 
 funeral." 
 
 " All right," she consented. " It looks as if it 
 might be a successful one. Come on and dance." 
 
 He was only too pleased, but, when she finally 
 stopped, she felt his arm stiffen as he saw they were 
 directly in front of her husband and Miss Norton. 
 But the past two days, with their conferences with 
 Mr. Sykes and his father, had done far more to 
 arouse his belief in his ability to handle any situa- 
 tion than even he had supposed. So, after an in- 
 stant's displeasure, it was even with a sense of 
 superiority that he looked down at pretty Mrs. 
 Wentworth and smiled, as if to show her that he 
 was quite aware that she was plotting something 
 but that he had no fears of anything she might at- 
 tempt. 
 
 " Well, Betty," he said, " it's good to have the
 
 MILLSTONES 83 
 
 prodigal daughter back again, and Mrs. Bob's cer- 
 tainly furnishing the gladsome festival." 
 
 " Object to being exhibited as the fatted calf/'- 
 announced Wentworth. 
 
 " Objection not sustained," declared his wife. 
 " Where' ve you been, Bet? " 
 
 " Only up to Le Reve. My old guide lives there, 
 and it's been years since I've seen his wife. I spent 
 a night with them, and if you call this a prodigal's 
 reception, Dan, I wonder what you'd call the re- 
 ception the Haleys and Salisburys gave me. I 
 never had such a good time." 
 
 " Sounds thrilling," observed Mrs. Wentworth ; 
 " don't wonder our Daniel sulks with the lions' den 
 empty. Why don't you two come home with us 
 next week and get some real hunting? We've a 
 stable full of horses." 
 
 Miss Norton's lips set. She was at a loss to un- 
 derstand this new attitude toward Bennitt. When 
 the news of the half-formed engagement had been 
 confided to the Wentworths, Marian had said her 
 say with customary biting frankness, and Jimmie, 
 for once, had chosen his few words with thoughtful 
 care. Now it seemed as if they, under the delusion 
 that what was passed was still inevitable, must be 
 endeavoring to be friendly to him through loyalty 
 to her. This generosity touched her and, at the 
 same time, made it imperative that she must not
 
 84 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 permit them to take a false position which might 
 later prove uncomfortable. 
 
 " It sounds most attractive," Bennitt confessed. 
 " Unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm to be rather busy 
 for the next ten days." 
 
 " Whose scalp are you Idyl wild men out after 
 now?" asked Wentworth. 
 
 " Guess you wouldn't even call it a scalp, old 
 man." 
 
 " You business men are so secretive," murmured 
 Mrs. Wentworth. 
 
 The girl glanced at her keenly. There was 
 something in the tone which did not ring true to 
 attentive ears. But Bennitt, feeling the importance 
 of the trust imposed on him, took it as a compli- 
 ment. " Not at all," he answered with self- 
 conscious modesty. " Only I don't want to bore 
 you with my work." 
 
 " You've some big scheme up your sleeve," 
 charged Mrs. Wentworth. " I know it. You can't 
 fool me. You're too innocent. Be a good fellow 
 and give us the tip." 
 
 " There's no money in it." 
 
 "No? I believe that, of course. I'm just that 
 unsophisticated. You Idylwild men never go into 
 a thing for money. And I do so need a new string 
 of pearls ! Mine are positively indecent. Please ? " 
 
 " Oh, let him alone," urged her husband with a
 
 MILLSTONES 85 
 
 good-natured laugh. " I know the sort of hole 
 you're putting him in. It isn't fair. They've 
 some sort of corner planned and don't want us 
 pikers butting in." 
 
 " Pikers ! That's good from you." 
 
 " I'm not in your class, old man," acknowledged 
 Jimmie. " I only take an occasional flyer for the 
 thrill of the thing. Haven't the brains to buck 
 the game. Who's going to dance with me ? " 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " No, you're not, Betty," retorted Mrs, Went- 
 worth, "you're going to stay here and make this 
 Bennitt person disgorge." 
 
 Miss Norton was not slow in perceiving that the 
 man was reveling in this not over-subtle flattery nor 
 in grasping the fact that his first taste of even 
 limited power had gone to his head. Knowing the 
 Wentworths' position, she was at a complete loss to 
 understand their deference toward him, and sorely 
 puzzled as to why Marian Wentworth was so eager 
 to learn his plans. That she would worm them out 
 of him within a very short time appeared certain, 
 and she began to comprehend the elder Bennitt's 
 reasons for not taking his son completely into his 
 confidence. As Mrs. Wentworth drew him aside 
 and began a whispered conversation, she saw Ben- 
 nitt's face flush with pleasure as he shrugged his 
 shoulders as a sign of all to willing surrender. It
 
 86 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 needed only Jimmie Wentworth's half -suppressed 
 chuckle to make her whirl on him. 
 
 " As a repository for golden secrets," he observed, 
 " your fiance doesn't look burglar-proof." 
 
 "Jimmie," she said, her voice trembling in spite 
 of her every effort, " it's a good joke, but let's post- 
 pone the laughter. For once I believe my eyesight's 
 clearer than yours." 
 
 " Here, wait ! " he cried, trying to detain her as 
 she brushed past. " We were just trying " 
 
 " I know." 
 
 "But wait." 
 
 " Sorry," she answered over her shoulder, " but 
 I've another engagement." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Perhaps you and your clever wife can discover 
 that, too," she called back, as she ran through the 
 doorway. 
 
 Wentworth puckered both his lips and his brow, 
 then, coming to himself, promptly rescued his wife. 
 " Something," he stated, as they whirled away from 
 the frankly disappointed Bennitt ; " something in the 
 form of one of those aggravating little birdies tells 
 me Mrs. Bob's barking up an empty tree and that 
 the heretofore intelligent Wentworth family is, as 
 your friend Henry James so aptly puts it, * in 
 Dutch.' " 
 
 " I don't follow you."
 
 MILLSTONES 87 
 
 " You bet you don't. Your job's to inflate Ben- 
 nitt. I'm going to scout after Betty and endeavor 
 to locate a laugh she referred to." 
 
 But he was more optimistic than successful. The 
 girl had disappeared from the club and a search of 
 the Norton camp only resulted in his capture for an 
 hour's bridge with three of the older men. 
 
 In the meantime, Miss Norton, doing her best to 
 conquer her hysterical desire to both laugh and 
 cry at the Went worth strategy, fled into the softness 
 of the September night. It was grateful after the 
 contrasting artificiality of the ballroom. Aimlessly, 
 she turned into the first path which offered seclu- 
 sion. But as she came into the silent blackness of 
 the knot of spruce which loomed between camp 
 and lake a new thought came into her mind and 
 her steps lagged. Marian Wentworth was not the 
 sort to hurt any one, no matter how good the result- 
 ant joke. A twig caught at the hem of her skirt, 
 and, stooping, she disentangled it with a care which 
 almost suggested tenderness. Her friend was mak- 
 ing a desperate effort to show her Dan Bennitt 
 as others saw him, making a last attempt to bring 
 her to her senses. That Marian could not know it 
 was unnecessary had not occurred to her before. 
 She half turned, almost deciding to go back and 
 put an end to the play, but then remembrance 
 of Jimmie's taunt brought a sudden mischievous
 
 88 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 twinkle into her eyes and she determined to let 
 them reap the pleasures of Bennitt's society to the 
 full 
 
 She came out into the open again. At her feet 
 Mirror Lake spread away to the moon-silvered 
 spruce a second inland sea rolling to the barrier 
 mountains. Mysterious in its silence, the far ex- 
 panse wrought another change of mood. The wil- 
 derness had given her nothing but friendship; she 
 had a sudden longing to find Rufe, and knew that 
 he would glow with pleasure when she told him 
 she had come to make him sit out a dance with 
 her. 
 
 But for once the boat-house veranda was empty. 
 Disappointed, she started down the steps, answering 
 the subtle call of the fragrant night. The gentle 
 lappings of the ripples chimed in with her softened 
 mood and she began to experience a vague feeling 
 of guilt. Dan Bennitt had never intentionally been 
 anything but considerate, and, if at times, his 
 temper was short, so was hers. Had any one at- 
 tempted to make her ridiculous, he would have been 
 the first to resent it. A frown gathered on her 
 forehead and her impulse was to return and rescue 
 him, but then caution warned her that by doing so 
 new complications would arise and she might find it 
 difficult to keep him at a distance. 
 
 She stood a moment motionless, a soft, white
 
 MILLSTONES 89 
 
 figure silhouetted by the sheen of the moonbeams 
 against the velvet blackness of the shore and the 
 breeze, sweeping across the lake, drove a faint chill 
 through her. But the quick backward toss of her 
 head and the quicker, sharper catch in her breath 
 was no plaint against the night but an almost uncon- 
 scious acknowledgment of the thrill of its vast 
 silence a silence broken only by the soft strains 
 from the distant club and the softer whisperings of 
 the restless spruce. 
 
 " Never before has a wish come true." 
 
 Startled at the sound, one hand clutched the lace 
 above her breast as she turned to peer into the 
 shadows. She could see no one, yet there was no 
 question in her heart as to who it was. " Mr. Dan- 
 forth," she demanded, marveling at the evenness of 
 her voice, " what are you doing here ? " 
 
 A canoe glided toward her like a ghost out of 
 the night and as it came into the path of the moon 
 she saw him, and there was a sharp contrast be- 
 tween the blue flannel and rough homespun and the 
 black and white men who danced. She knew that 
 his eyes were twinkling, and, in spite of her cer- 
 tainty that he should not be there, her own sparkled 
 with excitement. " I asked you," she repeated, 
 " what you are doing here? " 
 
 He laughed joyously as he gripped the edge of 
 the float. " Aren't you afraid that my continual
 
 90 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 efforts to justify myself may become a confirmed 
 habit?" he asked. 
 
 " Some habits can be condoned. You've come to 
 talk with my father and Mr. Bennitt ? " 
 
 He shook his head. " No," he confessed, " I 
 heard there was to be a dance at Idyl Island and 
 I've come from the railroad since sunset." 
 
 " You didn't tell me dancing was among your 
 accomplishments." 
 
 " Probably because it isn't. I'm not modest, you 
 know. But, you see, I met Betty Norton in the 
 woods and I had an over-mastering curiosity to 
 catch a glimpse of the famous Miss Norton. I 
 believe I'm going to be afraid of her." 
 
 " There's no evidence of it," she retorted. 
 " You've certainly proved you care nothing about 
 Betty Norton's requests. Do you think Miss Nor- 
 ton is going to beg you to leave Idyl wild? If 
 you do, you were right in saying you didn't know 
 her." 
 
 "Then I can stay?" 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders indifferently. 
 
 " Please," he begged ; " please don't be so entirely 
 the society girl. I was conceited enough to be- 
 lieve that even the popular Miss Norton might con- 
 sider it a well-meant compliment to have a man 
 come ten miles merely to catch a distant glimpse of 
 her."
 
 MILLSTONES 91 
 
 " I told you I didn't like compliments." 
 
 " Oh, no ! Betty Norton said that." 
 
 " Are you trying to imply a compliment by con- 
 fessing you remember one remark she made ? " 
 
 " I'd rather not discuss my friends with a 
 stranger," he said, his tone as mocking as hers. 
 " Do you think this cold snap will last, Miss 
 Norton?" 
 
 " While I'm seldom forced to discuss the 
 weather," she admitted, " I'll venture to predict it 
 will. Also, from certain signs, I imagine a storm's 
 brewing." 
 
 He searched sky and lake critically. " I'm sorry 
 to hear that," he said. " I didn't know but later 
 I'd find a certain unconventional friend of mine 
 and persuade her to sit out a dance in my canoe. 
 Isn't it possible?" he asked, the banter vanishing 
 from his voice. " I've accomplished a good deal 
 since I saw you. I'd like a chance to talk it over 
 with some one I trust." 
 
 " Oh, have you ? I'm glad. I'd like to hear it. 
 But, really, you shouldn't stay here and I haven't 
 a wrap." 
 
 " Get one." 
 
 She shook her head. " I don't want to go back 
 to the camp." The expression which came to her 
 face sent a thrill tingling through his veins and all 
 her reckless daring sparkled in her brown eyes. " I
 
 92 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 might," she said tentatively, " I might find Rufe and 
 borrow a coat." 
 
 Only a perfect waterman could have made such 
 quick moves without disaster. Almost before she 
 knew it he was standing at her side, holding up his 
 coat. " It's old and rough and ragged, and prob- 
 ably smells frightfully of tobacco," he added, mak- 
 ing no effort to hide his delight, " but it's an ap- 
 propriate party wrap for my dance." 
 
 " Oh, stop being humble," she commanded as she 
 slipped her arms into the gray sleeves ; " it's not even 
 a picturesque pose. And if you'll pardon the sug- 
 gestion of a disinterested person, we'd better hurry 
 or some one will be cutting in. I want to hear 
 what you've done." 
 
 Long afterwards she still wondered what gave 
 her courage to step into the canoe and float out into 
 the night with this man who, apparently, had 
 the power to make her do incomprehensible things. 
 But at the moment she did not stop to consider the 
 next; it was enough that he wanted to talk about 
 the road to Le Reve. Yet as she snuggled deeper 
 into the folds of the old coat and watched the slow, 
 strong sweep of his paddle as they slid along the 
 Island's shore, there was a subtle something about 
 his face which over-tempted her to throw serious 
 things after convention. 
 
 " Mr. Danforth," she broke out, " how many
 
 
 ALMOST BEFORE SHE KNEW IT HE WAS STANDING AT 
 HER SIDE, HOLDING UP HIS COAT "
 
 MILLSTONES 93 
 
 girls have you led into such desperately foolish 
 ventures ? " 
 
 " Really, I can't say offhand," he confessed, " but 
 their name is legion. You see, the majority of my 
 evenings are spent under similiar conditions." 
 
 " I thought so." 
 
 " You did nothing of the kind. Men who've led 
 my sort of life have few bright spots to look back 
 on." 
 
 " But always a few." 
 
 " Guess I'm the exception to the rule. My ex- 
 istence has been uneventful." 
 
 " I know you don't expect me to believe that," she 
 said. " I've heard a good deal in the past week. 
 I've been to Le Reve, you know." 
 
 " You have ? Good ! Didn't you find conditions 
 as I painted them ? " 
 
 " Worse. But we were not talking of Le 
 Reve," she reminded him. " I think you owe it to 
 me to give a little information first hand." 
 
 " I'm no good at fairy romances ; I'd rather 
 listen." 
 
 " When a man asks a girl to sit out a dance, Mr. 
 Danforth, the girl usually expects to be amused." 
 
 " I'm gaining the discomforting impression," he 
 retorted, " that I'm exactly filling the bill." 
 
 " Now that you're properly humble, I'm gaining 
 courage. Did you know," she asked, smiling up at
 
 94 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 him whimsically, " that with a woman courage and 
 curiosity are the same? No? Well, they are. 
 The other day you said you'd been very ill. I've 
 a presentiment there's more than a fairy story back 
 of that. I'm still listening," she hinted after a 
 moment. 
 
 " Oh, excuse me. I was trying to remember 
 where I'd left that halo of romance of mine. It's 
 no use, though; I'm a poor liar. I was merely 
 smashed up like any other idiot would have been 
 and the repair shop was my due reward." 
 
 " I knew I was right ! " she cried, leaning sud- 
 denly forward. " You've done some big thing." 
 
 " If I have," he laughed, " my friends have been 
 cruelly remiss in sending me marked copies of the 
 newspapers. I assure you, Miss Norton, no one 
 regrets my lack of imagination more than I. I'd 
 be charmed if I could thrill you with a tale of heroic 
 daring and noble self-sacrifice. But getting hit on 
 the head with a beam is as prosaic as it is pain- 
 ful." 
 
 " All right," she said resignedly, leaning back 
 against his pack, " laugh at me if you want. But I 
 don't believe you, and you'll pay. Possibly you'll 
 deign to laugh with me and at me about the 
 road." 
 
 "Do you think that's fair?" 
 
 Again she shrugged her shoulders indifferently.
 
 MILLSTONES 95 
 
 " You know it's not," he said soberly. " And it's 
 no more like you to be vindictive than it is to put a 
 man's work in such a contemptuous light." 
 
 " Thank you for that," she said quickly. " I'm 
 sorry I said it, but of late I've come to resent being 
 treated like an inquisitive child." 
 
 " You misunderstood entirely ; I'd gladly tell you 
 anything, but, honestly, I can't see the faintest spark 
 of interest in the story of an every-day sort of mine 
 accident." 
 
 " Won't you give me credit of being judge of 
 what would interest me?" 
 
 " All right, I'll do my best. Once upon a time," 
 he began, " there was a hole in the ground. It was 
 small at the top but too many hundred feet deep to 
 be called luxurious." 
 
 "Where was it?" 
 
 " Idaho. Well, one day a part of that hole got 
 tired of being just a hole. It swallowed a bite of the 
 mountain which did duty as the roof of its mouth. 
 When such things occur in working hours they 
 create a certain amount of pardonable excitement. 
 This did. Forty-odd men were on the wrong side 
 of the cave-in. It's rather stuffy in a gallery under 
 such conditions and difficult to see well enough to 
 dodge. A number of men got hurt because of that. 
 I was one of 'em." 
 
 She studied him intently for a long moment.
 
 96 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " I thought so," she said very gently. " Now tell 
 me about the road." 
 
 His relief was so evident that it was with diffi- 
 culty she controlled her lips. His shoulders seemed 
 to shake off their hang-dog droop and his voice be- 
 came confident. " Of course I will," he consented. 
 " Since I saw you I've been to the capitol. I've had 
 another talk with the powers-that-be and they con- 
 tinue to see the light. I've even shown them the 
 tentative drawings of the proposed route. Now 
 I'm going back over that route to make sure there're 
 no errors. When I'm absolutely certain, those 
 plans go to the commission as final. Then it's up 
 to them, to the Legislature, and, finally, to me. I 
 saw one of the Mittendorfs, too. I hate an ' I- 
 told-you-so ' person but I'm one now. They're 
 square; they're going to play the game through." 
 
 "And you met no opposition?" 
 
 He shook his head. " I haven't paraded behind 
 a band, you know." 
 
 " I don't understand it not at all." 
 
 " I do. There won't be any." 
 
 " You're too optimistic." 
 
 " Pessimism never leads anywhere," he retorted. 
 " There may be fight somewhere ahead but I be- 
 lieve I can win through." 
 
 She twisted a corner of his coat in and out 
 through her fingers, thoughtfully weighing what he
 
 MILLSTONES 97 
 
 had said. " You know I want you to succeed," she 
 began hesitatingly, " and I think eventually you 
 will, but there is a fight ahead. You're not taking 
 this dormant opposition seriously enough and I can't 
 comprehend your attitude." 
 
 ".I don't see how things can go against us. 
 But, if they should, the blame will all be mine." 
 
 " That's just it," she agreed, raising her troubled 
 face to his ; " that's just why I'm trying to warn 
 you. If you should fail, you're ready to shoulder 
 the entire responsibility, and it isn't fair. You 
 ought to share it with others. Don't you see 
 you're just inviting personal ruin ? " 
 
 " I've little to lose." 
 
 " You've everything to lose money, reputation, 
 the faith of your friends." 
 
 " You said you were my friend. Are you judg- 
 ing others by yourself?" 
 
 " You know I'm not. I know you." 
 
 " I wonder," he said ; " I wonder if you really 
 do?" 
 
 Her small head moved emphatically. " Per- 
 fectly. You're big and brave and honest; you've 
 spent your life in the open where everything's clean 
 and environment has fostered loyalty and faith until 
 you've come to think all men are like you." 
 
 " I wish I deserved that," he muttered, his paddle 
 trailing through the silvery ripples ; " but I've seen
 
 98 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 too many of the rough edges of life to be the un- 
 sophisticated idealist you picture," he continued 
 aloud. " I wasn't fifteen when I left Le Reve to cut 
 my wisdom teeth on a surveyor's chain in the Can- 
 adian Northwest. Life two weeks beyond railhead 
 knocks most of the idealism out of a lad. Still, out 
 there I managed to pick up some knowledge, the best 
 part of which was that I knew nothing. I came part 
 way East again and worked nights in an office so 
 that I could put myself through a little university 
 you never heard of. Since then Oh, what's the 
 use? " he broke off. 
 
 " Go on." 
 
 He shook his head and she saw white teeth close 
 over his under lip. " I am the visionary fool you 
 think," he said with a short laugh. " When a man's 
 fought his own way he always forgets he's not the 
 pioneer and his head swells until he thinks he's been 
 given a lecturer's license." 
 
 " You know that's both cynical and unfair," she 
 cried. " Why won't you be honest with yourself? " 
 
 " Because I'm afraid." 
 
 "Of what?" 
 
 "Of you." The paddle lay across his knees now 
 and he leaned forward, his face nearer hers, his 
 eyes glowing. " If I had been what you said I am," 
 he asked in a low, intense tone which sent the blood 
 surging to her heart, and made the tips of her fin-
 
 MILLSTONES 
 
 gers, clasped tight beneath the old gray coat, cold 
 with quick apprehension; " if I had been all that," he 
 repeated, " do you think I'd have come sneaking 
 back into Idylwild like a thief in the night? Do you 
 think I'd have had the presumption to have asked 
 you to come out here when I've no right to remem- 
 ber even your generosity to me? Do you think a 
 man of my sort has any right to turn a girl like you 
 against her own, to ramble on about his past and his 
 dreams? You don't; you can't; I won't permit it. 
 We've talked a lot of selfishness; I've certainly 
 proved mine." 
 
 "Don't be absurd! I've" 
 
 " No," he broke in, " you've had nothing to do 
 with it not in that way but everything in the 
 other. You " 
 
 " You mustn't say that," she whispered through 
 dry lips. 
 
 He threw back his head as if she had struck him, 
 and his hands closed over the paddle ; then, plunging 
 it into the water, he whirled the canoe around with 
 savage strokes. " I know it," he confessed through 
 tight-shut teeth. " I knew it when I came in, when 
 I saw your face before me at every turn of the 
 carry, at every twist of the stream. But I hadn't 
 the strength to push through to Le Reve without 
 trying to see you just once more. I thought you'd 
 never know I'd been here, never know that a lonely
 
 100 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 man was watching you, happy among your own 
 kind. But what difference does it all make," he 
 argued gruffly, "what little bit of difference? 
 None. None. No man could help being mad 
 about you. Why shouldn't I tell you ? I don't ask 
 anything. A shack in a construction camp or a 
 cabin at the mouth of a mine can't off-set Idylwild. 
 I've nothing to offer you but love and faith. But 
 they're yours, now and for always, even when the 
 real man comes." 
 
 "Don't!" she pleaded. "I never thought I 
 want to think. Oh, I'm to blame for everything ! " 
 
 " You can't help being you." 
 
 " That's just it," she answered, her voice catch- 
 ing, " I'm just me, not the girl you think. I'm use- 
 less and shallow, but not so shallow I can't appreci- 
 ate the drag I'd be, that I don't know " 
 
 "Betty!" 
 
 " Oh, let me go on ! Let me say it ! You hurt 
 when you said no man could ask a girl like me 
 to give up her Idylwilds ; hurt more than you'll ever 
 know. But truth always seems to hurt, and what 
 you said is true. I know I'm " 
 
 "Stop!" 
 
 There was a roughness in the sharp command 
 which made her raise a frightened face to his 
 and he saw her eyes swimming with tears. On its 
 own momentum the canoe glided out from behind
 
 MILLSTONES 101 
 
 a point into the narrow cove but he was uncon- 
 scious of the light from the boat-house, of every- 
 thing but the little figure crumpled against his pack. 
 One hand loosened its grip on the paddle and 
 reached for the two clasped desperately in her lap. 
 
 " You shan't talk that way," he said gruffly. 
 " Don't you know I know what you are, know you 
 are the most wonderful thing in the world? What 
 are Idylwilds or money or railroads compared with 
 you? Just milestones on the real road to a dream 
 the most wonderful dream a man ever had. Yet 
 they are milestones, dear, for no real man can ask 
 a girl to follow an unmarked road with him. I 
 told you I am poor; that's why I can't do anything 
 but tell you how I love you." 
 
 He stopped. For a moment she seemed inert, 
 then slowly her hands turned beneath his and he 
 felt the softness of her palms and the quick clutch 
 of her warm fingers. " As an apostle of unselfish- 
 ness," she faltered, " you're you're pitiable." 
 
 " What what do you mean ? " 
 
 "Won't you even guess?" she asked with a 
 broken laugh. 
 
 " But, Betty ! " 
 
 " But, Stephen ! " she mocked, all of a sudden rais- 
 ing his hand until it touched her cheek. " Poor 
 Stephen! If you're so afraid of milestones it's no 
 wonder you're afraid of a millstone. You needn't
 
 102 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 be; I'm not going to hang myself about your neck 
 that is " He felt the fleeting touch of soft lips 
 on his fingers "that is, not until I'm asked." 
 
 "But, Betty!" 
 
 " Oh, ' but ' ! I'm tired of listening to that, as 
 tired of it as I am of listening to your foolishness 
 about poverty. If I'd wanted just money do you 
 think I'd have come out here with you; if I'd wanted 
 anything but love love and you, do you think I'd 
 have the courage to let you know you fill my whole 
 life, that you're what makes life glorious, that you're 
 all there is for me ? Do you think any girl who isn't 
 sure of herself could say these things, could forget 
 all the things she is supposed to remember, and 
 brazenly tell a man she loves him? I don't know 
 why you love me, but because you do is enough. 
 I'm content to be happy in the present and leave the 
 future to you. Look out! You almost upset us." 
 
 " Was anything ever more impossible ! " 
 
 " It seems to me," she suggested, peeking up at 
 him through long, curling lashes, " that for such a 
 modest man you're taking much for granted. Or 
 maybe you've forgotten you've not even asked me 
 to become engaged to you." 
 
 " If I wasn't certain I'm crazy," he laughed boy- 
 ishly, " you'd drive me there. I don't have to ask 
 you to marry me; I'm going to make you. You 
 can't do anything else."
 
 MILLSTONES 103 
 
 " I don't want to," she flashed back. " Only I 
 do think you might propose to me. I like to be 
 proposed to." 
 
 " You what? " he demanded sharply. " How do 
 you know you do ? " 
 
 " Oh," she answered with assumed carelessness, 
 " I just do. I don't have to tell you the whys and 
 wherefores. You've no right to ask yet." 
 
 " We'll see about that," he declared as he seized 
 his paddle and swept the canoe shoreward while she, 
 in contented silence, sank back, watching the play 
 of the lithe muscles in his arms and the confident 
 poise of the shapely head. But they had gone but a 
 few yards when she saw a change come over him. 
 " I don't know what's going to happen," he said 
 in an undertone, " but I'll take care of you. Some 
 one's on the float." 
 
 " Oh, turn ! Turn round. They mustn't know 
 you're here. Remember our road." 
 
 " I remember more than that." The sweep of the 
 paddle never faltered as he went ahead. 
 
 "But, Stephen!" 
 
 " It's all right, dear. You said you trusted me." 
 
 " I do, you know I do." 
 
 " Then let me handle this." 
 
 She dared not glance over her shoulder to see 
 who was waiting there. He had said he was 
 not ready to meet the Idylwild men, and she knew
 
 104 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 he had spoken the truth, yet now she was confident 
 that he was blindly risking everything to protect 
 her, and it made her furious at herself for being so 
 thoughtless. She heard quick footsteps on the float 
 and both cold hands gripped the gunnel. The next 
 moment the canoe rubbed against the boards and an 
 amused chuckle made her gasp aloud. 
 
 " Oh! " she cried in half-hysterical relief. " It's 
 only you." 
 
 " Well, I'll be hanged ! Where'd you come from, 
 Jim?" 
 
 " Do you two men know each other? " she asked, 
 looking from one to the other as she stepped from 
 the canoe. 
 
 " Apparently," acknowledged Went worth, mov- 
 ing so that he might get a nearer view of the fig- 
 ure in the stern. " I think it's Rome Steve ! " 
 His voice was even heartier than the blow of his 
 palm on the broad back. " Steve ! " he re- 
 peated. " Lord, but I'm glad to get hands on you 
 again ! " 
 
 " What are you doing here ? " 
 
 Wentworth's grin broadened as the situation 
 became clear. " Wasting time," he answered 
 promptly. 
 
 " Don't go, Jimmie. Don't ! Wait ! I've been 
 out on the lake with Mr. Danforth." 
 
 " My dear Miss Norton," he retorted owlishly,
 
 MILLSTONES 105 
 
 " I never should have guessed it. Do be more cau- 
 tious. If you tell me any more secrets we may be 
 shaking hands all round." 
 
 She flushed crimson, and, to his delight, he heard 
 Danforth shift uneasily in his seat. " But I'm go- 
 ing to remove myself," he promised. " I've an idea 
 I can make an awful hit with my wife." 
 
 " You're going to do nothing of the sort," con- 
 tradicted Danforth. " You're going to walk back 
 to camp with Miss Norton. You've been down 
 here with her for an hour." 
 
 " That's right," complained Wentworth, " put it 
 all on me. I can stroll in with a foolish smile on 
 my face and get away with the story that I've been 
 making clandestine love in the moonlight. It's a 
 cinch ! It's the easiest thing I do. I can just hear 
 Marian's glowing tribute. Good night, kind 
 friends. Just because you're pussy-footed don't 
 harbor the illusion I'm a cat's paw." 
 
 He turned on his heel and ran along the float 
 only to pause on the lower step. " Far be it from 
 me to pole-vault at conclusions," he called back, 
 " but I think my shoe string's going to work loose 
 in the grove and it will take me just five minutes to 
 re-tie it." 
 
 Betty Norton laughed in spite of herself. " He's 
 a dear," she owned. " Where did you know him, 
 Stephen?"
 
 106 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Out West. Betty," he cried, springing out of 
 the canoe, " it's good-by. You must go." 
 
 " So must you," she sighed. " But, oh, how I 
 hate to let you ! " 
 
 She was in his arms now, her lips crushed against 
 his, but in a moment her hands slipped down to 
 his shoulders and reluctantly pushed him away. 
 " You must go," she repeated. " I've been self- 
 ish long enough; but it's such sweet selfishness, 
 dear." 
 
 He tried to draw her to him again but this time 
 she resisted. " No," she said ; " it's because I love 
 you that I want you to go." 
 
 " But when can I see you again? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " To-morrow ? " 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 " They say," he suggested, " that the fishing is 
 still good in Lone Pine pool." 
 
 " I don't suppose I've any right to question your 
 word, even if I'm not engaged to you," she admitted, 
 " so I might be persuaded to go there." 
 
 " You might be ? " he cried, his arms enfolding 
 her again. " If you're not," he laughed joyously 
 "if you're not, you'll miss the most wonderful 
 proposal a girl ever heard." 
 
 " I don't see how I can afford to do that. I really 
 don't. And you'll wait till I come?"
 
 MILLSTONES 107 
 
 " Do you think anything could make me go ? " 
 
 " No, not if I asked you to wait, dear." 
 
 " Then " 
 
 "Here! Hold on a minute!" 
 
 She sprang free, frightened not so much at Went- 
 worth's inopportune return as at his peremptory 
 tone. " Wait ! " he repeated as he dashed toward 
 them. " I forgot to give you my orders for the Can- 
 adian end of the deal." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "It's Bennitt, Bet. Play the game," he whis- 
 pered as he darted past her to grab Danforth's 
 arm and fairly drag him toward the canoe. 
 "You fool!" he hissed. "Why didn't you 
 go?" 
 
 Before either of them could say more Miss Nor- 
 ton was at Danforth's side, her face white but her 
 whole bearing resolute. " I'm to blame for every- 
 thing," she said ; " I'll explain." 
 
 " Keep still," two low voices warned her im- 
 peratively. 
 
 She heard Bennitt's usually languid step grow 
 more hurried as Dan forth and Wentworth walked 
 calmly to the canoe and the former took his place, 
 apparently listening studiously to his companion's 
 hurried orders. 
 
 " So here you are," exclaimed the new-comer. 
 " Every one's been wondering where you'd disap-
 
 108 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 peared to. Hello ! " He stopped abruptly as, for 
 the first time, he noticed the canoe. " Who's 
 that?" 
 
 " Friend of mine," Wentworth called over his 
 shoulder. " Be with you in a second, old man." 
 
 "What's the game, Betty?" 
 
 " Apparently they're talking business." 
 
 " Queer time and place for that," he observed 
 dryly. " We have so many nocturnal business con- 
 ferences here, I " For the first time he noticed 
 the forgotten coat around her shoulders. Natu- 
 rally suspicious, it aroused more than his curiosity, 
 and, in a flash, he had the answer to her open avoid- 
 ance of him during the past week. " Who's coat's 
 that? " he demanded. 
 
 It was too much for her taut nerves to stand and 
 her big eyes blazed. " That," she said coldly, " is 
 none of your affair, either." 
 
 "Isn't it?" he retorted, his own quick temper 
 flaring. " There appear to be a good many things 
 going on around here that are no one's affair. It's 
 about time they were. Wentworth," he called, step- 
 ping past the girl, " suppose you introduce me to 
 your friend; we Idylwild people haven't the name 
 of being inhospitable." 
 
 He heard Wentworth's muttered, "Oh, hell!" 
 as he straightened to meet him, but was unconscious 
 of the girl close to his shoulder as he stooped to
 
 MILLSTONES 109 
 
 peer into the face of the man in the canoe. " My 
 name's Bennitt," he announced. " Why not come 
 up to the camps if you want to talk with Went- 
 worth?" 
 
 " Thanks, I've nothing more to say to him, Mr. 
 Bennitt." 
 
 " But where the deuce do you expect to go this 
 time of night? " 
 
 " I'm used to the woods." 
 
 " No accounting for taste," observed Bennitt. 
 " By the way, I didn't catch your name." 
 
 " Danforth." 
 
 " Indeed ! " As he straightened, his teeth showed 
 between curled lips. " Wentworth," he sneered, 
 " we hardly expected to find you mixed up in this 
 hold-up." 
 
 "What are you talking about?" 
 
 " I assure you, Mr. Bennitt," spoke up Danforth, 
 " that he knows absolutely nothing of the mat- 
 ter you refer to. Also I resent your figure of 
 speech." 
 
 " I'll take care of my own resenting, Steve," 
 snapped Wentworth. 
 
 " Dan," broke in the girl sharply, " you're taking 
 too much for granted. Mr. Danforth came here at 
 my request ; at mine he is going." 
 
 Bennitt controlled his anger with a visible effort. 
 " Far be it from me," he said sneeringly, " to ques-
 
 110 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 tion the means to the end, but I believe it is my pre- 
 rogative to demand an explanation of some still 
 vague acts of Mr. Danforth's." 
 
 " Far be it from me to question your preroga- 
 tives," retorted Danforth coldly as he picked up his 
 paddle, " but as you appear determined to be 
 shall I say inquisitive ? Good ! " He leaned sud- 
 denly forward and they saw his jaw square and a 
 new glint come into the already cold blue eyes " I 
 4o not feel called upon to either defend or explain, 
 Mr. Bennitt." 
 
 *' Possibly you'd find either embarrassing." 
 
 " Possibly," agreed Danforth with ominous mild- 
 ness which Bennitt completely misunderstood, but 
 which sent a thrill of pride through the rigid girl 
 and which made Jimmie Wentworth's mouth relax. 
 " Should you care to force the attempt, however, I 
 plan to camp at the foot of Lone Pine Falls. I 
 will be there until noon. Good night." 
 
 But it was only Betty Norton who saw the 
 change in his face and noticed the difference in his 
 voice as he spoke. The next moment the canoe shot 
 out into the night, a black arrow cutting a silver 
 path across the silent lake.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 A SKIRMISH 
 
 JIMMIE WENT WORTH did not, as a rule, permit 
 others to read his feelings, but when he parted from 
 Bennitt he made no effort to hide his disgust. And 
 Bennitt, already a bit uncomfortable in the knowl- 
 edge that jealousy had made him play the fool, be- 
 came furious when he realized that others appreci- 
 ated his crassness. On top of a growing sense of 
 humiliation came remembrance of Danforth's cold 
 challenge and Betty Norton's stinging indifference 
 and the combination left him in no mood for his own 
 companionship. He went directly to his father's 
 camp and, ordering a servant to take whisky and 
 soda to his rooms, withdrew from the activities of 
 Idyl Island. 
 
 Yet sulking in a corner was as new a role as play- 
 ing the saw-tongued fool. He made no conscious 
 effort to order his thoughts as he sat before a crack- 
 ling fire growling over his contretemps. Hating to 
 be alone, because he hated to be bored, he now 
 dreaded his own company more than ever. A dif- 
 ferent brand of cigars failed to have the desired 
 
 ill
 
 112 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 soothing effect, and he dimly commenced to appreci- 
 ate that only by his future actions could he find 
 justification. 
 
 He rose and crossed the room with an impatient 
 stride. If a girl had flaunted him openly it was no 
 reason he should give her the satisfaction of know- 
 ing how the wound smarted. But smart it did, for 
 in his own indolent way he loved Betty Norton al- 
 most as much as he unconsciously loved himself. 
 After all, it was his pride which had been battered 
 raw, and that pride must be rehabilitated. The cure 
 loomed before him in a quick mental picture of 
 Stephen Dan forth. He became obsessed with the 
 idea that, without Danforth, none of these things 
 could have happened. With Danforth out of the 
 way they could be glossed over, if not forgotten. 
 He had the means of attaining this grateful result 
 in his hands. With the road to Le Reve once 
 smashed into the dirt the man would vanish as 
 quickly as he had appeared. 
 
 He poured himself a longer drink; a wise smile 
 stretching the corners of his big mouth as he thought 
 of how it was the girl's constant pleadings that he 
 go to work which had brought revenge within 
 reach. Yet as he studied the matter from new 
 angles he saw new light. He had been given op- 
 portunity to show his ability in a business way. It 
 might be possible that he was doing, not only him-
 
 A SKIRMISH 113 
 
 self, but his father, an injustice in placing the per- 
 sonal above the practical. The thought appealed to 
 him. He sat down, and, stretching his legs far out 
 before him, gave his imagination full rein, and as 
 he turned things this way and that he began to see 
 that it was possible to so handle the affair that he 
 could reap credit instead of contempt. 
 
 It was an entirety different Bennitt who came 
 briskly into the boat-house the next morning, con- 
 fidence exuding even from the set of the brown 
 Norfolk on the stooping shoulders. " Chase," he 
 ordered one of the younger guides at work on a 
 canoe, " launch that and tell Ellis I want him also." 
 
 The man picked up the canoe and swung it over 
 his head without a word. Few of them had any 
 liking for this chap who viewed the wilderness 
 through sneering eyes, but, knowing him as he did 
 not know himself, they obeyed him in silence. 
 
 Any other man on the Island would have given 
 a hand with cushions and paddles but Bennitt 
 walked to the end of the float and waited like a 
 full-feathered autocrat while Chase hunted up his 
 boat mate and made everything ready. " Paddle to 
 Lone Pine pool," he commanded briefly, stepping 
 in while they balanced the canoe. 
 
 " Want a rod, Mr. Bennitt? " 
 
 " If I did, I'd take one." 
 
 Chase's blood swept into the roots of his hair,
 
 114 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 but he remembered his wife and child at Le Reve 
 in time to bite back the hot retort. Nodding to 
 Ellis, he stepped into the stern and began to work 
 out his temper with his paddle. 
 
 But Bennitt, oblivious of their very being, sank 
 back into the heap of gay pillows and, drawing a 
 long, thin cigar from his pocket, studiously clipped 
 off its end and gave himself up to his thoughts. It 
 was still comparatively early, and, in addition, Idyl 
 Island was over-lazy on a Sunday. No other boat 
 had left the landing; he had seen no one stirring in 
 any of the camps as he passed. It gave him the 
 feeling of being very much awake, and, as he tucked 
 the cigar into the corner of his mouth, he felt that 
 he need ask odds from none. 
 
 In fact Dan Bennitt felt, for the first time in 
 his smooth existence, that he was Daniel Bennitt, 
 Jr. His power was more than proxy and he could 
 exert it as he alone saw fit. Immediate results were 
 what he wished, and he had decided that these could 
 be secured most showily by cool diplomacy. 
 Should, by any chance, this miscarry, a confident 
 exposition of the iron hand closed in the velvet mit- 
 ten could be employed. And if this, too, failed to 
 carry conviction, there was the third mode of attack 
 the jolting force of a Bennitt ultimatum. 
 
 He found his quarry on the edge of the great 
 pool, a short pipe between his teeth and a rod in
 
 A SKIRMISH 115 
 
 his hand. Danforth exhibited no surprise at his 
 arrival, merely reeling in his line as he nodded. 
 Bennitt's greeting was equally negligent, and offered 
 only after his orders to beach the canoe at Dan- 
 forth's side had been carried out. Yet as he 
 glanced again at the rough-clad figure standing 
 ankle-deep in the pool, a slow gleam of triumph 
 came into his eyes and he smiled tolerantly as he 
 grasped the weapon thrust unexpectedly into his 
 hands. 
 
 " Possibly I'm mistaken," he said with a drawl 
 which belied his words, " but I always had the im- 
 pression that none but our members and our guests 
 could fish here." 
 
 Danforth had needed no warning, and, in turn, 
 he smiled slightly as he deliberately stooped and 
 picked up a pair of half pound trout. " Impres- 
 sions," he admitted, " are sometimes illusions, as 
 you see. I've fished here a number of times." 
 
 " Rather a dangerous confession, that." 
 
 " Can't see it." 
 
 " No ? That's strange. Supposed all you na- 
 tives realized you were open to prosecution if caught 
 either fishing or shooting around here." 
 
 " Maybe some of 'em think so ; I don't. I've been 
 led to suppose that the law allowed that, when nec- 
 essary, a man in the wilderness could take food and 
 shelter where he could find it."
 
 116 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Steve's right," broke out Chase, delighted to see 
 his employer in the wrong. 
 
 Bennitt glanced at the guide over his shoulder. 
 " When I need information from you," he suggested 
 cuttingly, " I'll ask for it." 
 
 The man stiffened with a jerk but a quicker mo- 
 tion of Danforth's hand bade him be silent. He 
 gazed at him in wonder only to receive a greater 
 shock when he noticed the smile still on his towns- 
 man's face. "I'll be damned!" he muttered, and, 
 drawing out his pipe, punched it full of tobacco. 
 
 Bennitt tossed his half -smoked cigar into the 
 stream and produced a fresh one but, instead of 
 lighting it, began to munch, after the habit of his 
 father. " We're a long way apart on legal points," 
 he offered, " but let's drop that for the moment. 
 Guess neither of us is looking for trouble, Dan- 
 f orth. Maybe we were both a bit abrupt last night ; 
 I'll admit that finding you on the Island jarred me 
 in more ways than one. Presume what I said didn't 
 soothe you." 
 
 " Forget it," advised Danforth indifferently. 
 
 " Good ! You're right. Last night's nothing to 
 do with this morning. There's no reason why we 
 shouldn't come to a quick understanding. I'm 
 here to talk business. I represent the Idylwild 
 crowd. What about this road ? " 
 
 "What about it?"
 
 A SKIRMISH 117 
 
 Bennitt indulged in an understanding wave of 
 the hand. " At least give my crowd credit for hav- 
 ing ears," he suggested. " You're planning to run 
 a road through Idylwild. What's your proposi- 
 tion?" 
 
 " Really," confessed Danforth, squatting down 
 on his haunches and idly snapping studiously se- 
 lected pebbles into the pool, " really, I'm afraid I 
 don't follow you." 
 
 The man seemed so puerile in his unwillingness 
 to understand, yet so mild in his tone and so quiet 
 in his manner that Bennitt not only began to be- 
 lieve he had over-estimated an antagonist but to 
 think that Jimmie Wentworth had plausible grounds 
 for defending the chap as a friend. The Bennitt 
 chest measurement increased visibly and a charac- 
 teristic flash of generosity determined him to trim 
 his sails and start on a new tack. 
 
 " All right," he agreed, " let that go at that, too. 
 We'll quit beating up the bushes. We're both 
 young fellows making a start in life. Let's pull 
 together in this thing." 
 
 The other bowed gravely, but Bennitt did not see 
 how near a sharply snapped pebble came to Ned 
 Chase's twitching face. 
 
 " You're dead foolish to get tangled up in such 
 a wildcat scheme as this Le Reve road, Danforth," 
 the confident one stated. " Just consider your
 
 118 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 proposition in a sane, business light. In the first 
 place, you haven't the money to build with; in the 
 second," he went on, checking his points off by 
 tapping the side of the canoe just as the" elder Ben- 
 nitt always beat upon his desk with a pencil, " in 
 the second place, you can't get any firm to float your 
 bonds." 
 
 " Maybe not." 
 
 " Absolutely not. Even if some one agreed to, 
 all we'd have to do is pass the tip to drop it. Tips 
 from my crowd aren't ignored, my son." 
 
 Dan forth nodded once more, and a pebble 
 splashed almost in the center of the pool. 
 
 Bennitt was encouraged by his silence. So far 
 his new line of action was meeting with proper re- 
 sults. " Let's even go back of all this," he sug- 
 gested amicably. " I presume you think you can 
 seize your right of way under eminent domain. 
 You know you can't buy it. Well, maybe you'll 
 run into a snag there. Railroad commissioners and 
 other people have been made to see which of two 
 lights it's safest to follow. You're up against it 
 hard, old boy, hard. What money you've put into 
 this bubble's gone, and you'd be a fool to throw 
 more after it. None of us want to see you down 
 and out. You're too good a chap. You won't tell 
 me your proposition; I'll be more generous and 
 make a mighty good one to you. We've looked you
 
 A SKIRMISH 119 
 
 up, personally and professionally and Oh, well," 
 he laughed, " we're not a pair of old maids swap- 
 ping compliments over a dish of tea ! Here's mine. 
 We've a man's size copper mine in Utah but we 
 haul to smelter by team. We've got to build a rail- 
 road this winter and we also want a resident 
 engineer. The salary's exactly ten thousand dollars 
 more than you've spent here. Drop your Idylwild 
 road and the job's yours." 
 
 Danforth rose and eyed him deliberately. When 
 at last he spoke, his voice was as cold as the water 
 which swept over Lone Pine Falls. " You must 
 employ a high grade of men," he observed. " I 
 think we've nothing more to say to each other." 
 
 A slow flush crept over Bennitt's forehead and 
 his back stiffened. He had expected his fish to rise 
 at the bait in quite different spirit, for the bait had 
 been suggested by a no less skillful angler of men 
 than Alonzo P. Sykes. His hot brain worked 
 quietly and he knew that the time had come to play 
 the game with the family cards. 
 
 " Hold up a minute," he snapped as Danforth 
 started up the bank toward the soft curling smoke 
 of his camp fire. " I told you I wasn't hunting 
 trouble, but don't get the idea I'm dodging it. I'm 
 not going to tolerate any such insolence as that. 
 You've met a decent offer with a sneer; now try 
 your teeth on an order. Get out of Idylwild within
 
 120 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 one hour. If you don't, our wardens will be 
 ordered to arrest you on sight. We'll give these 
 trespassing and poaching laws a trial. Even if 
 they're lax, you'll find the courts a good pit in which 
 to sink a little more of your surplus cash. As for 
 your road it's a joke. Don't waste postage ask- 
 ing me to buy a charter you can't get. Now, I 
 think we're through." 
 
 There was a pause such as comes when the copper 
 clouds race out of the West at the end of a blister- 
 ing day and the wind whimpers with the fear of 
 the coming thunder, as Dan forth turned, his lips 
 curling. 
 
 " Go home," he advised ; " go home, and tell your 
 father you've tattled his plans. I'm accustomed to 
 deal with real men. Go home, I tell you." 
 
 Bennitt half lifted himself, his hands on either 
 side of the canoe, his whole countenance purple. 
 " Real men ! " he cried. " Don't get the idea you're 
 not up against the biggest men in the country. You 
 go, go before I lose my temper and have you arrested 
 on the spot." 
 
 "Oh, don't make a bigger ass of yourself," ad- 
 vised Danforth with open contempt. " I'm not go- 
 ing 'til it suits my own convenience." 
 
 " Is that so ? Is that really so ? " Bennitt's voice 
 rose with his rage until he lost control of both in 
 his wild determination to put this upstart in his
 
 A SKIRMISH 121 
 
 proper place for all time. " So it's a question of 
 men? Fine! Judge 'em by yourself, do you? 
 Fine kind of man you are. Think a decent man is 
 the sort who hangs 'round trying to pump informa- 
 tion out of a girl? Don't care if you do com- 
 promise her so long as you learn what you want, 
 do you? Think you're going to hang around 'til 
 you meet her again. Go to it! Try it. If she 
 comes here, so much the better. I'll have you ar- 
 rested as sure as my name's Bennitt, and I'll have 
 it done before her face. She'll like to be sum- 
 moned into court as a witness. She'll revel in the 
 notoriety. Go on, stay ! " 
 
 " By God ! " blazed Danf orth, leaping down the 
 bank, " get out of this while you're able." 
 
 "Try that, too," jeered Bennitt. "John Nor- 
 ton will appreciate your championing his daugh- 
 ter." 
 
 Like a flash Chase whirled his paddle across the 
 canoe and dug it into the sand to brace against the 
 blow, his arms taut as he watched Dan forth hope- 
 fully. But at the water's edge the man halted, his 
 fists opening and shutting hungrily, the great 
 shoulder muscles rippling and the head thrust for- 
 ward. For an instant he stood poised, his eyes 
 narrowed to a thin slit, his face as black as night. 
 Bennitt at last appreciated his peril and blanched 
 as he cowered among the cushions. Danforth
 
 122 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 looked at him a full ten seconds, then wheeled on 
 Chase. " Take him away," he snapped. 
 
 The guides, disappointed, did not dare disobey. 
 As the water widened between the canoe and shore 
 Bennitt experienced the sensation of one who had 
 escaped disaster which seemed utterly unavoidable 
 and his relief brought back his false courage. 
 " Head warden's camp, Chase," he commanded. 
 " We'll show this gentleman." 
 
 The men at the paddle watched the man on the 
 shore with pleading eyes. He stood immovable, ex- 
 actly where he had checked his rush, and many 
 things were surging through his brain, not in the 
 confusion of an uncontrollable wrath but in orderly 
 sequence. He fully appreciated the utterly reckless 
 type he had to deal with and he knew that Bennitt's 
 rage was so insane that he would do the thing 
 that he had promised just as he was certain he 
 would later, honestly, regret it. It took him but 
 a moment to choose his course. " Don't 
 bother your warden," he said indifferently. " I'll 
 
 go." 
 
 " By gad ! " cried Bennitt. " She was coming 
 here." 
 
 " Do you think I'd go for you, you whelp ? 
 Boys," he said, the sweep of his fists marking his 
 words, " if any one hears of this, I know who to 
 hold accountable."
 
 A SKIRMISH 123 
 
 " You bet you do, Steve," declared Ellis. " Come 
 on, Ned." 
 
 The guide in the stern fell into the rhythm of 
 the reckless stroke, and the canoe, instead of hug- 
 ging the shore, lunged for the white heart of the 
 curling rapids. As they shot over the crest Chase 
 laughed in wild enjoyment of their danger. Twice 
 they grazed jagged rocks ; from the first plunge the 
 frail canoe was half submerged. Bennitt, cowering 
 in the waist, was on the verge of a nervous collapse, 
 but did not dare speak until they catapulted into the 
 head of the lower pool. 
 
 " Put me ashore ! " he gasped. 
 
 Ellis's shoulders shook, but his only answer was 
 to hit up the stroke to racing speed. 
 
 " Put me ashore or I'll upset the canoe." 
 
 " An' get walloped over the head and let drown," 
 snarled Chase. " I ain't got Steve Danforth's grit. 
 Hit her up, Ned." 
 
 Bennitt knew it was no idle threat. He could do 
 nothing but endeavor to control himself until he 
 stepped out upon the float at Idyl Island. There he 
 stood above the two expressionless youngsters. 
 Putting his hand in his pocket, he produced a bill. 
 " Get out of Idylwild," he ordered, dropping it in 
 Chase's lap. " You're through." 
 
 The guide picked it up cautiously between a cal- 
 loused thumb and protesting first finger and ex-
 
 124 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 amined its yellow back. " Its color reminds me 
 too damned much of you," he retorted, and, leaning 
 over, he dropped it in the lake. " We've been full 
 paid for our morning's work, and you can chew that, 
 and go to hell." 
 
 Bennitt, with just sense enough remaining to 
 catch the full danger in that boyish laughter, turned 
 stiffly away, endeavoring to give the impression it 
 was not fear, but position, which prevented his 
 resentment of such insult. But, as the culminating 
 crash to the morning's wreck, it made him ache for 
 some safer victim on whom to vent his feelings. 
 And Betty Norton, coming out of the boat-house, 
 a paddle over her shoulder and her feet dancing with 
 happiness, almost collided with him. 
 
 " Good morning, Dan," she cried with an effort 
 to be her old friendly self, because all the world 
 seemed very friendly. " Better look out, Rufe's 
 coming with my canoe." 
 
 He stepped quickly aside to avoid the old man, 
 but as she started to follow he caught her arm. 
 "Where are you going?" he demanded. 
 
 She stopped and her eyebrows went up. " Where 
 am I going? " she repeated. " Oh, just for a little 
 automobile ride through the park. Sorry you can't 
 come." 
 
 " Meaning it's none of my business?" 
 
 " That's your suggestion."
 
 A SKIRMISH 125 
 
 " Unusually pleasant mood you're in this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " Yours is the first complaint. Please let go my 
 arm; I'm in a hurry." 
 
 " I want to talk with you a minute." 
 
 " Can't keep Rufe waiting." 
 
 " I won't even notice the slur," he said, mastering 
 himself. " Strange as it may seem, I'm interested 
 enough in you to tell you you're keeping no one else 
 waiting." 
 
 " Just what do you mean by that? " she demanded 
 coldly. 
 
 " Exactly what you think," he stated with an ugly 
 laugh, as he dropped her arm and stood aside. " I 
 mean that no one else is waiting for you. I've 
 driven him out of Idylwild." 
 
 " That," she said with great conviction, " is not 
 true." 
 
 " All right. Possibly I'm merely attempting to 
 save you a useless jaunt. Perhaps you'll credit 
 your own eyes." 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders as a sign that even 
 that was unnecessary. Danforth's word was suffi- 
 cient. " I'm afraid," she said, " your interest in 
 my affairs is unappreciated." 
 
 " Apparently. It's a pity you can't appreciate 
 some other things, however." 
 
 " For instance ? "
 
 126 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " For one thing that you've been cleverly worked 
 by a slick rascal for a good bit of valuable informa- 
 tion. When you find he's not keeping this little 
 tryst possibly you'll condescend to remember I tried 
 not to let you make an exhibition of yourself be- 
 fore a pack of loose-tongued guides." 
 
 She turned and came back to him very slowly. 
 " Dan Bennitt," she said with a deliberateness which 
 made each word sear like a whip lash, " I don't know 
 what you've done, and I don't care. Your acts are 
 a matter of utter indifference to me. But you are 
 to understand now and for all time that you have 
 no concern in anything which pertains to me. I am 
 quite capable of ordering my own house and 
 thoroughly competent to control my tongue. If 
 such were not the case, I would lower myself by 
 telling you some things which some day some one 
 will be unkind enough to throw in your face. For- 
 tunately, I can trust myself. Also I know whom to 
 trust. That's all." 
 
 He gulped once, but before the words came she 
 was at the far end of the float where Rufe stood by 
 the canoe he had launched. Bennitt glared after 
 her, but made no move to follow. For once, he 
 had had enough. But as she took her place and 
 reached for a paddle his revenge gleamed through 
 the red curtain which had dropped between him and 
 the world. When she returned his time would come.
 
 A SKIRMISH 127 
 
 But for the girl much of the brightness had van- 
 ished from the morning. While her dislike for 
 Bennitt had been on the increase, it was distressing 
 that it should culminate in an open rupture just 
 when her heart had been so full. Yet his speech 
 had been so blunt and so contemptible that she knew 
 she could have taken no other course, nor did she 
 for an instant regret what she had said. Her 
 loyalty to Dan forth permitted nothing else. The 
 mere suggestion that he would fail her was suffi- 
 cient for unbounded resentment. 
 
 As they went up the lake she tried to forget the 
 whole trying incident, and Haley, sensing intuitively 
 that something unpleasant had occurred, did his 
 faithful best to bring back her customary gayety. 
 
 Nor did Haley need to be told that no trout was 
 calling her to Lone Pine pool. Yet he had spoken 
 his mind once and if she chose to disregard him it 
 was not his to question or suggest again. And 
 then, too, he knew his man. 
 
 It was not until he dropped paddle for pole and 
 began to dig his way up the rapids that the girl's 
 earlier mood returned. The old sparkle came back 
 to the brown eyes, but beneath it was a newer and 
 a softer light. The color stole back into the round 
 cheeks and she began to hum the habitant song he 
 had sung on that first afternoon. 
 
 The ugly roar of the Falls beat upon her eager
 
 128 
 
 ears and the white water gleamed in the gentle light 
 of the morning sun. Above her head alders waved 
 gently, parting, now and then, to offer a glimpse 
 of the dull green spruce. As they lunged over the 
 last whirling eddy and shot into the crystal reaches 
 of the great pool she raised her head expectantly 
 but no hail rose above the dull pound of the Fall. 
 
 A frown wrinkled the smooth forehead, then a 
 dimple danced across her cheek. "Quiet, Rufe!" 
 she whispered. " We've surprised him." 
 
 She stepped ashore, and, gathering her skirts 
 close about her, stole up the bank, intent only on 
 her quick- formed plan, but Haley, who had seen 
 that which her wilderness training should never have 
 permitted her to miss, beached his canoe with a 
 dejected tug and started after her. 
 
 As he won the crest of the bank he saw her, head 
 bowed, arms limp, the little figure lax, and her face 
 turned toward the ashes of a dead camp fire, and 
 then, above the sighing of the wind in the spruce, 
 he heard her first quick, dry sob. 
 
 A great lump rose in his own throat as uncon- 
 trollable shudders racked her slender body and he 
 sprang to her side, one huge arm sweeping around 
 her as it used to when she was a little child. 
 
 " Rufe ! Rufe ! " she sobbed. " Oh, Rufe ! "
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 AT LE REVE 
 
 Miss NORTON returned to Idyl Island in a mood 
 which boded ill for the peace of mind of young 
 Bennitt, and, for once, the man had the wit to avoid 
 her, more, however, from a sense of shame than 
 fear. Viewed in retrospect he saw less and less 
 for self -congratulation in his morning's activities. 
 Nor did an interview with his father and A. P. 
 Sykes add to his confidence, for the latter was open 
 in his disapproval of his young protege's lack of 
 finesse and the former's effort to find some point to 
 praise in the son's sharp ultimatum to the trespasser 
 sounded labored. What both would have said, had 
 they been told the full story, Bennitt dared not even 
 imagine. He was glad when Sykes left, but after 
 ten minutes' conversation with his father he regretted 
 even that. 
 
 The Jimmie Wentworths were quick to sense some 
 happening bordering on the unusual, and, believing 
 that the gods had at last been kind, did their best 
 to bring the two together and so hasten the ultimate 
 
 crash. Even the customarily strategic Mrs. Shef- 
 
 129
 
 130 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 field came out of ambush to join in the open game, 
 but the quarry eluded all three. Miss Norton was 
 no longer the plastic girl they had come to look upon 
 as theirs to mold, and as for Bennitt, Jimmie 
 Wentworth aptly described his mood as being fit 
 only to emphasize the morning after. 
 
 Miss Norton had no desire for the rapid social 
 activities of the Island camps but wanted to be left 
 to herself to solve her own problems in her own 
 way. Above all, she wanted to know the real reason 
 for Danforth's going, and was sure he alone could 
 give that reason. In some way she must learn it; 
 that was imperative to her peace of mind. Rufe, 
 she knew, would do all in his power to find out, yet 
 when he had gone so far he crashed into the blank 
 wall of Danforth's orders to Ellis and Chase. No 
 persuasion of his could get even a hint from the 
 pair, and before he could bring the girl to add her 
 plea, they had departed from Idylwild, singing 
 boisterously. 
 
 She wanted to write Dan forth she had kept tryst 
 and that even though he had failed her once it made 
 no difference, because she trusted him. But she did 
 not know his address, and all Rufe could offer was 
 that during the past two months Dan forth had 
 seldom been in Le Reve, and, while away, his mail 
 accumulated in dusty piles at Sackett's. He did 
 know this had troubled Sackett himself, but when
 
 AT LE REVE 131 
 
 the sour-visaged postmaster had protested, Dan- 
 forth's only retort had been that he had no creditors 
 to worry, and his business mail went to some place 
 which old Rufe could not recall. 
 
 For three days she waited eagerly for word from 
 him, but she did not know that such a message as 
 she longed for was the last a man of Danforth's 
 over-sensitive type could send. He had gone out 
 of Idylwild convinced that his presence there had 
 wronged the most precious object in his life, and he 
 would have parted with both hands rather than make 
 the slightest move which might raise a breath of 
 criticism against her, no matter how acute the pain 
 to himself might be. He had given her his all, and, 
 once given, was given for eternity. And strong in 
 the knowledge of his own devotion, he was un- 
 versed enough in the ways of women to believe that 
 between those who love can be no question, no doubt 
 or no misunderstanding. Therefore he plunged 
 into his work, convinced that only by carrying it to 
 quick success could he go back to her and claim a 
 happiness which would make all explanations of the 
 past inconsequential. 
 
 For a week he labored over his rough surveys, 
 checking from them instead of from the actual 
 route as he had planned. The long nights of close 
 work helped to dull his longings, but the girl had 
 no such consolation. Idyl Island became intolerable
 
 132 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 to her, and she gave in to the pleadings of Marian 
 Wentworth and deserted the now empty wilderness 
 for still emptier Long Island, her sole condition of 
 surrender being that neither her host nor hostess 
 should mention Dan Bennitt in her presence. 
 
 Within a fortnight Jimmie Wentworth had be- 
 come bored with what he termed "a sedatory life 
 of inactivity " and, chancing on a picture in a Sun- 
 day supplement, decided to start on Monday for 
 Honolulu in order to see whether or not it was a 
 good picture. Even over the long-distance Mr. 
 Norton's voice carried a note of relief as he gave 
 permission for his daughter to accompany them, for 
 already he had come to look upon the road to Le 
 Reve with a suspicion which its present financial 
 merits did not warrant. 
 
 So while Betty Norton wandered beneath rustling 
 palms, the leaves on the birches half the world away 
 changed from soft green to glorious yellow, then 
 fluttered to the ground under the sting of the frost- 
 tinged wind. Camp after camp on Idyl Island 
 closed, the deer moved back to the ridges, and Mr. 
 Norton and Robert Sheffield, with Haley and Nate 
 Salisbury, departed on their annual pilgrimage to 
 the New Brunswick moose shrine. When the first 
 of winter's fluffy snowflakes danced with the chilled 
 mists of Lone Pine Falls Idylwild was empty of its 
 summer friends, and the men who earned their
 
 AT LE REVE 133 
 
 livelihood by guiding came drifting back to shiver- 
 ing Le Reve. 
 
 Then, in a night, the drear dullness of the scat- 
 tered village changed its monotone of brown for a 
 gleaming, five months' shroud. The snow made the 
 houses seem further apart, and the sharp back- 
 ground of white-flecked spruce assumed a more 
 threatening sentinelship over the dormant valley. 
 Le Reve, poised on the brink of winter, succumbed 
 to the drab inevitable. 
 
 In the silent places it is the men who are grega- 
 rious. Sackett's began to echo with easy laughter 
 over new variants of ancient stories, but this winter 
 the old lies met with shorter applause for under- 
 neath ran a current of anxiety new to the men of Le 
 Reve. They had dipped their paddles in unknown 
 waters, and no evening passed without its lengthy 
 discussion of what the future held for Danforth's 
 road. 
 
 It was a drear, mid-December afternoon on which 
 the mysterious wireless which flashes news into New 
 England's lonely corners made it common knowl- 
 edge that Dan forth himself had unexpectedly ap- 
 peared in the village. Tired farmers far down the 
 valley opportunely remembered important business 
 at Sackett's, and, for once, their womenfolk did not 
 command a quick return. Sackett himself had no 
 visions of increased trade as he watched the grow-
 
 134 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 ing circle about his red hot stove assume the propor- 
 tions of a town meeting, and his only recognition 
 of his popularity was an apparently careless removal 
 of the cheese to a retreat less tempting to absent- 
 minded marauders. 
 
 The gathering grinned its comprehension of the 
 strategy, and Ellis was about to turn the laugh on 
 the storekeeper by openly placing a rainbow pile 
 of Micmacs over the yawning cracker barrel when 
 the door opened and Rufe Haley appeared, followed 
 by Dan forth. 
 
 No people are so undemonstrative as your true 
 New Englanders. There were no noisy greetings 
 for the long-awaited, no slapping of backs, no 
 boisterous questions, merely a few deep grunts and 
 more bearlike hand-clasps. Nate Salisbury's eyes 
 strayed back to their critical study of the clusters 
 of gum shoes ripening from the rafters and his fore- 
 head assumed thoughtful lines. Apparently his 
 financial calculations were satisfactory for, remov- 
 ing his feet from a potato bag, he heaved himself 
 upright, strolled to the show-case and, drawing a 
 tightly tied leather sack from his pocket, pried out a 
 dime and tapped it insistently on the glass. 
 
 " Fred," he demanded, " gimme two o' them best 
 five centers." 
 
 Having selected the brace with the most livid 
 spots he tracked back to where Dan forth had
 
 AT LE REVE 135 
 
 perched on the counter. " Put up the pipe," he 
 commanded, " an' smoke a ceegar." 
 
 Having done the honors handsomely, as became 
 an elder, he stalked back to his throne, hauled out 
 a knife, hewed half an inch from an end of his 
 share of the treat, saw that the multi-colored sir- 
 cingle was properly anchored, struck a sulphur 
 match on a long-suffering seat, lit up, paid well- 
 aimed tribute to the stove draft, and then, screw- 
 ing the now spluttering tobacco into a corner of his 
 mouth, said, " Shoot ahead, boy." 
 
 Dan forth, having lit his cigar, clasped his hands 
 about one knee. There was an answering clatter 
 of tilting chairs and the click of jack-knives pre- 
 paring for thoughtful action. The yellow smoke 
 from a dozen rank pipes billowed ceiling-ward but 
 hung half way in the turgid air. A farmer from 
 up the river pulled his collar higher around his 
 chilly neck and sunk his wrists in his trousers 
 pockets. They were all about to hear the things 
 they had come so far to hear, but it was character- 
 istic that, instead of watching Danforth, they glared 
 at the highly-colored and more highly-improbable 
 advertisements portraying wondrously the lure of 
 the wilderness and the marvelous worth of certain 
 purveyors of eternal sleep. 
 
 The man on the counter looked from face to 
 face, but even he, who had known them all since he
 
 136 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 was a boy, could read nothing. " I've had a letter 
 from the Idylwild crowd," he began. " They want 
 me to meet them in New York. Want to hear it? " 
 
 " Reckon not." Salisbury's cigar rolled to the 
 other corner of his mouth but beyond that he was 
 calm. " You've fished enough, Steve, to know whar 
 the hook's hid in the bait. If it's bait, we'll begin 
 on your idees o' that." 
 
 Danforth smiled. " Guess we're past the bait 
 stage, Nate. All I can see in this is a game of show- 
 down. We're ready now. I saw the commission- 
 ers two days ago and they've set our hearing for 
 next Friday week. Bartlett assured me confi- 
 dentially that he could see how no opposition could 
 develop which could bear weight with them." 
 
 " Had a letter from Bartlett m'self last week," 
 threw in a moody farmer. " He's married to a kin 
 o' my woman down Bath way. I'd sorter writ him 
 there war 'bout one sure way for him to keep shet 
 o' a family row. Bart's O. K." 
 
 " Met 'nother o' them comish fellers up north o' 
 Chesuncook last month," drawled a soft voice from 
 the friendly gloom which surrounded the re-located 
 cheese. " 'Lowed he war with us an' for us." 
 
 Haley glanced up from the match he was care- 
 fully shaping. " How 'bout the Legislater, Steve? " 
 he queried. 
 
 Dave Haynes chuckled. " Leave them boys to
 
 AT LE REVE 137 
 
 me," he advised. " I ain't been representatin' Le 
 Reve down to the capitol six year without makin' a 
 few friends." 
 
 " Don't you get swelled up, Dave," warned 
 Haley. " This ain't no plaything, an' these Idyl- 
 wild boys is no-quit fighters. I'd almighty hate to 
 have 'em campin' on my trail." 
 
 " Gosh ! " gasped a startled youngster, " has 
 Uncle Rufe dim on the fence? " 
 
 Haley snorted. " I ain't on no fence," he re- 
 torted stuffily, " an' I'm as anxious for this road as 
 you be, for I see what it'll mean to this country. 
 But John Norton an' his'n has been about as close 
 to me as my own an' I won't raise a hand, open or 
 knuckles out, agin him 'less it's a clean, honest hand. 
 There ain't goin' to be no tricky politics in this 
 s' long's I'm in it, an' that's why I says for Dave 
 to take his orders from Steve an' not go off at half 
 cock." 
 
 "Ah, don't get het up, Rufe! Me an' Steve 
 knows our jobs." 
 
 " Put Steve first, Dave, an' Rufe won't kick." 
 
 " Reckon that's sense, Nelse," admitted the some- 
 what mollified Haley. " Let's let Steve do some o' 
 this gabbin'. Which one o' the boys writ you. 
 Steve?", 
 
 " Mr. Bennitt." 
 
 "Big or little Dan?"
 
 138 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " The elder," he answered, a frown flashing across 
 his forehead as Ned Chase coughed, then choked. 
 " I do want to do some talking," he went on after 
 a moment's consideration ; " I want to put something 
 squarely up to you." 
 
 " We're listenin'." 
 
 Dan forth balanced his cigar on the counter, and, 
 leaning forward, clasped his hands between his 
 knees and looked steadily about the circle. " This 
 road," he began, " means more to you men than to 
 the outsiders who are interested. To them it may 
 look like a gamble, but I'm just as certain now as 
 I was at the outset that we can win out. But you've 
 all money in it, maybe some of you more than you 
 can afford to risk, and you've put it in on my say-so. 
 Now it's just possible," he went on more deliber- 
 ately, so that each word could sink in, " that Mr. 
 Bennitt may consider it worth a good deal to keep 
 the road out of Idylwild, and it's also possible that 
 he and his associates may offer to buy us off. That 
 would mean each one of you would get back, in 
 spot cash, his original stake, plus interest and a 
 handsome little profit." 
 
 " Is that straight ? " demanded Nelson. 
 
 " It's business," answered Danforth evasively. 
 " Think it over and let me know what to tell him 
 if he makes the offer." 
 
 "What to tell him?" roared Nate Salisbury.
 
 AT LE REVE 189 
 
 " You know what to tell him ; tell him to go to 
 hell!" His big fist crashed down on the arm of 
 his chair and his wrinkled face resembled a black 
 squall cloud. " We ain't what they call * money 
 kings/ " he stormed ; " we're jest men. When we 
 do business, we do square business. We're in this 
 because we want that road an' we're goin' to have 
 it. If Dan Bennitt wants to know who says that, 
 tell him the man who showed him Idyl Island says 
 it. An' if he puts up any sech talk you tell him 
 further no man ain't ever offered Nate Salisbury 
 dirty money an' God help the first as does." He 
 looked up to discover Haley nodding slow approval 
 and young Chase delightedly tightening his belt. 
 " Ain't them the sentiments o' this meetin' ? " he 
 demanded. 
 
 " They be," confirmed Sackett, leaning across his 
 counter ; " they sure be." 
 
 " If they weren't," and Danforth jumped to the 
 floor " I wanted to know it so some one else could 
 go to New York. I interested the outsiders on the 
 understanding the road was to be built." 
 
 " What'd you put sech a thing up to us fer, any- 
 way?" 
 
 " Because, Dave, I'm not the sort who keeps cards 
 up his sleeve. I've no secrets; I wanted you to 
 know you're probably chosing fight instead of easy 
 money."
 
 140 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Think they're goin' to fight? " 
 
 Haley glanced pityingly at Le Reve's law-maker. 
 "Fight!" he snorted. "Fight! I've knowed 'em 
 thirty-odd year, Dave, an' durin' that spell I ain't 
 heard tell o' their cachin' no stock o' white flags. 
 They'll fight all right if we make 'em fight. But 
 I ain't thinkin' that it's fight yet; that is, if we don't 
 go round packin' chips on our shoulders. I've 
 sorter got the notion there's one o' these yere 
 colored folks lurkin' in the cord wood. Some one's 
 sorter been doin' a little quiet missionarying an' the 
 boys has come to see things our way. They're 
 fighters, if they have to fight, but they're good 
 boys all the time, an' I reckon they'll do all they 
 can to help along a parcel o' old friends. Sorter 
 have the idee they want to talk with Steve straight 
 from the shoulder, man to man fashion w r ant 
 to see the plans an' maybe suggest some changes 
 like gettin' the track further back from the 
 lake." 
 
 " Sounds senselike," admitted Salisbury. "If 
 that's the trail, Steve, course you'll go's fur as you 
 kin to oblige." 
 
 " I've already done all I can." 
 
 " Kin always do a little more, boy." 
 
 " They're good people," added Sackett. " Nate's 
 right, Steve. We ain't hogs." 
 
 " I'm afraid the actual lay of the land prevents
 
 AT LE REVE 141 
 
 further concessions," said Danforth with a pleased 
 smile. 
 
 " Well, if they want you to do anythin', give it 
 a try," advised Haley. " Hear 'em out an' let 'em 
 know we'll play 'em fair." 
 
 " I intend to do that. I'll tell you what I'd like, 
 though, and that's to have at least one of you men 
 go to New York with me. It's what I came here 
 to ask." 
 
 " This ain't my year to go to the city," grinned 
 Ellis; "I've swore off." 
 
 " What you want us along for? " 
 
 Danforth leaned back and thrust his hands into 
 his coat pockets. " Because," he answered, " I'd 
 like some of you to hear what I say, Nate. I don't 
 want any of you to think I'm not following a 
 straight trail." 
 
 " Any one said we ever had sech idees? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Then wait till they do. Most o' us old codgers 
 has knowed you since you war beak high to a 
 Canada jay, an' I reckon if we can't trust you to do 
 an' say the right thing we can't trust no one. 
 You'll play us fair 'cause it ain't in you to do nothin' 
 else, an' you know it an' we know it an' Dan Ben- 
 nitt knows it. You don't need none o' us shaggy 
 moss-backs polin' in an' mixin' things. But if you 
 did, every man here'd sling his pack an' follow whar
 
 142 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 you led. You know what we want an' we know 
 what you want, an' it's the road. It's your scheme, 
 an' we don't shoot 'til you yell for help. Knowin' 
 Steve Danforth," Salisbury finished with a chuckle, 
 " I ain't even goin' to cock my rifle." 
 
 " Nominations closed ! " yelled the gentleman 
 from Le Reve. " Make it unanimous. Steve, you 
 ole muskrat, we've been on to you a long time ! " 
 
 Danforth's face was red as they crowded around 
 him in one of those unexpected outbursts which all 
 would be childishly ashamed of the next moment. 
 He had secretly hoped they would meet his wishes 
 by sending Haley or Salisbury to New York with 
 him, but no man could refuse confidence so openly 
 given. " I'll do my best," he declared above the 
 clatter ; " I'll try to do my best to show I deserve 
 your confidence." 
 
 "Gosh!" drawled Ned Chase, "if that's all the 
 ambish you've got, sit down agin an' help wear out 
 Sackett's chairs." 
 
 It snapped the strain which was becoming uncom- 
 fortable for them all but it broke the trend of the 
 discussion as well. Neither Chase nor Haynes 
 could be listeners long at a stretch and Danforth 
 was glad of the relief. But men who have 
 journeyed far do not go home soon. In the next 
 hour Danforth traveled back and forth over every 
 foot of that road to Le Reve until it became almost
 
 AT LE REVE 143 
 
 a reality through well-worn repetitions. Yet it was 
 a subject which none could exhaust, and the why- 
 for of Bennitt's letter gave it the tongue-rolling 
 flavor of mystery. In spite of their combined ef- 
 forts to believe that the men of Idylwild would meet 
 old friends half way, there was a haunting suspicion 
 in most of their minds that white water tossed some- 
 where ahead. 
 
 Rufus Haley made the move which finally brought 
 the meandering arguments to an abrupt close. 
 " Time I spread my blankets," he announced, yawn- 
 ing mightily. " Steve's goin' to be here a day 
 or so; save somethin' for to-morrer. Come on, 
 boy." 
 
 Dan forth, weary from his hard trip in from rail- 
 head, obeyed too willingly to suit the more loqua- 
 ctious. As he slid into his coat old Rufe nudged 
 him. " Ain't yer goin' to get your mail? " he sug- 
 gested in an attempted whisper. 
 
 " None here." 
 
 "How's that?" 
 
 " Ned's been forwarding it regularly since fall. 
 I wanted it." 
 
 " Damn ! Good night, boys." 
 
 The rattle of the frost-thick glass in the quickly 
 closed door shut out the chorused response, but once 
 in the biting blackness of the night Haley's anxiety 
 got the better of his caution and he gripped the
 
 144 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 younger man's arm. "Is she home yet?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 "What's that!" 
 
 " I said I didn't know." 
 
 " Ain't yer heard from her lately? " 
 
 " I've never heard from her." 
 
 Rufe's quick caught breath was almost a groan. 
 "Why not?" he asked. 
 
 "Why should I?" 
 
 " Ain't you sent her no word, Steve ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Why not? It ain't like you." 
 
 " I've done harm enough already. Let's talk of 
 something else." 
 
 " Just as you say," sighed the older man. " But 
 it ain't like either o' yer. Had a letter myself." 
 
 "Did you? Is she all right?" 
 
 A queer smile crinkled the corner of the guide's 
 mouth. " Reckon so," he admitted. " She's out in 
 some Hallelujah place with them Went worths who 
 was to the Island in September." 
 
 "Hallelujah place!" 
 
 " Well, I dunno as that's jest the name. It war 
 somethin' like it Honnalujah or Hallelujah." 
 
 "Honolulu?" 
 
 '' You've hit a bull's eye. Betty's home by now. 
 I suspect she's back o' this Bennitt letter. Maybe
 
 AT LE REVE 145 
 
 you'll see her in New York. Gosh, but it's a chill 
 night! Reckon I'm gettin' old, son, but," he said 
 in an entirely different tone as he halted at the mouth 
 of the tunnel leading to his cottage, "but " he 
 emphasized the command by a heavy hand on his 
 friend's shoulder " don't you play the fool no 
 longer, Steve. We men o' the big woods ain't 
 young but once an' we don't love but once. Come 
 on in; the wife's waitin' to talk to us."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 
 
 FOR full twenty minutes Dan forth had waited on 
 that mahogany bench facing the rich grainings of 
 the heavier mahogany door. Against thick plate 
 windows gusts of drifting rain interrupted the roar 
 of the traffic surging up from the lower levels of 
 the Broadway canyon. Occasionally a trim stenog- 
 rapher hurried through the rooms, head high, el- 
 bows out as if infected by the importance of the 
 freshly scrawled notes in her marbled book. At a 
 much too important desk sat a much more important 
 youth, his cut-away trimly buttoned, the white in- 
 terlining of his waistcoat breaking the symphonic 
 study in gray and black, his shell-rimmed spectacles 
 properly set, and his mind engrossed with the 
 weighty problem as to whether the first one should 
 be Bronx or Martini. 
 
 The telephone at his sharp-creased sleeve rasped. 
 Glancing at it languidly he took the receiver and 
 honored it with a place near one bloodless ear. 
 " Thank you, sir," he answered in a tone laughingly 
 out of keeping with his previous attitude. The next 
 instant he was on his feet. 
 
 146
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 147 
 
 " Mr. Bennitt will accord you a few moments," 
 he announced, glancing at the card he had picked 
 up and clearing his throat as he read, " Mr-a-a Dan- 
 forth?" 
 
 Danforth smiled. "All right; I'll try to be 
 brief." 
 
 " This way." He threw open the inner door and 
 bowed stiffly. " Brief is the word," he cautioned 
 condescendingly. " Mr. Bennitt has several im- 
 portant engagements. The door straight ahead. 
 Don't knock ; I've announced you." 
 
 Danforth, the smile still unconquered, opened the 
 door to the luxurious work-room of the dominating 
 force of Bennitt & Co. Even on the threshold the 
 atmosphere of great wealth oppressed him. A rug, 
 which would have been welcomed in a museum, bore 
 a mahogany table which impressed through sheer 
 massive simplicity. Above the rich wainscoting 
 hung half a dozen Barbizons which would have been 
 accorded far better light even in the Louvre, and 
 under the shelter of the intricately carved mantel 
 big logs of apple wood burned silently on the 
 strangely wrought andirons. The stage settings 
 were perfection, but, for once at least, they received 
 but sub-conscious recognition. Danforth had eyes 
 only for the four men seated about the head of the 
 table. 
 
 Daniel Bennitt, ponderous in body and with tell-
 
 148 
 
 tale rolls of bluish flesh bagging beneath lynx-like 
 eyes, rested one hand on the arm of his chair while 
 with the other he turned a newly sharpened penny 
 pencil his one and duly advertised extravagance 
 end over end. A queer shift of legs and hunch of 
 shoulders gave the idea that he had half-risen as 
 he inclined his heavy head. " Mr. Dan forth, I be- 
 lieve you have also not met Mr. Sheffield, Mr. Sykes 
 or Mr. Norton? " 
 
 As he acknowledged each introduction in turn, 
 Danforth's attention centered on John Norton, and 
 instinctively he felt a liking for the tall, well- 
 groomed aristocrat with whitening hair and white 
 mustache. There was force of character in each 
 sharply chiseled feature, and about the eyes an ex- 
 pression which more than hinted of the man's well- 
 known ability to see deep into affairs. Robert Shef- 
 field, who sat at his left, appeared as if cast for the 
 Porthos to Norton's Athos, a massive fellow, rather 
 indifferent on the surface, but who, once roused, 
 and who now-a-days could be roused but seldom, 
 was the sort who staked his all with a careless laugh 
 and a prayer for a good, stiff fight. But it was on 
 none of these whom Danforth's glance finally settled 
 but on Sykes, known to the Street as " Sanctimo- 
 nious," and feared while cordially despised. A dap- 
 per little figure, this ardently professing Christian, 
 frock-coated, as befitted a pillar of an Avenue
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 149 
 
 church, his weasel face garnished with the expected 
 silky whiskers, and marred still more by watery 
 blue eyes which were never still. It was he alone 
 who came forward. 
 
 " It is a real pleasure to see you here, my dear 
 sir," he purred. " We have heard much of you at 
 our little Idylwild and take a pardonably paternal 
 interest in the success of the young men of the region 
 which means so much to us. Won't you sit amongst 
 us?" 
 
 Dan forth bowed as he dropped into a chair op- 
 posite Mr. Norton. Such sugar-coated prelimina- 
 ries rather appealed to his sense of humor, but he 
 gathered from the impatient movement of Sheffield's 
 feet that that gentleman did not share his emo- 
 tions. 
 
 As Mr. Sykes glided back to his place at Ben- 
 nitt's right, the latter looked up from under the 
 thatch of bushy eyebrows and came to the point 
 in his customary time-saving way. " Word has 
 reached us, Mr. Dan forth," he said in a voice ut- 
 terly devoid of feeling, " that you are about to peti- 
 tion the railroad commission for a charter for a 
 road from the end of the established line through 
 our holdings into the Le Reve valley." 
 
 " Your information is correct, sir." 
 
 " We generally endeavor to have that the case," 
 admitted Bermitt. " On this occasion, however, I
 
 150 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 must confess that it came as something of a shock. 
 We supposed that we'd treated the natives gener- 
 ously and hardly expected to have our efforts to do 
 all that was possible to benefit the people of Le 
 Reve repaid by such ingratitude as an organized 
 effort to ruin our preserve." 
 
 " I must consider ' ingratitude ' an illy-chosen 
 word, Mr. Bennitt. You must acknowledge that 
 railroads have been built where there was a demand 
 for them before this." 
 
 " I used the word advisedly," stated the other man 
 unruffled. " Especially so because we also under- 
 stand that a number of our employees have been 
 drawn into the adventure. While that does make 
 complications it has caused us also a certain amount 
 of surprise." 
 
 " Sorry you look at it in that way," admitted 
 Danforth. " In spite of what you're apparently 
 pleased to think, however, you'll find those same men 
 most loyal to your interests." 
 
 " We won't argue that." Mr. Bennitt leaned to 
 one side and lifted a heavy tube from beneath the 
 table, drew out a map and unrolled it down the 
 length of the table with a vigorous sweep of his 
 arm. " I think you'll find this a satisfactory map 
 of Idylwild and its surroundings," he announced, 
 his eyes on the white lines which ran this way and 
 that across the blue sheet. " Possibly you'll be good
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 151 
 
 enough to indicate roughly the route you intend to 
 adopt." 
 
 " I regret that necessity makes that impossible. 
 You know already that the survey is soon to be filed. 
 It will be open to any one's inspection after that." 
 
 Bennitt frowned intolerantly. " But, see here, 
 Danforth," he exclaimed, " put all this sort of thing 
 aside and give us credit for being human beings! 
 You ought to be able to appreciate our interest even 
 if you insist on being suspicious of concealed mo- 
 tives. You've decided to desecrate our privacy and 
 we've a good deal at stake ourselves, even if it is 
 entirely from a sentimental standpoint." 
 
 Danforth re-crossed his legs. This endeavor to 
 put him in the light of a surly dog growling over 
 a casual bone did not appeal to him. He had come 
 expecting a straight-forward proposition and he 
 knew all this was subterfuge. " I'm sorry I'm not 
 at liberty to give the desired information," he re- 
 torted. 
 
 Sanctimonious Sykes pursed his thin lips. " A 
 mistake, my dear young sir," he mourned, " a griev- 
 ous mistake ! We gather here as kindly intentioned 
 friends yet you refuse to extend the open hand of 
 friendship. A young man in the full glory of his 
 strength should show a more trusting consideration 
 for those whose work is nearly done. Can it be 
 possible, my dear Mr. Danforth, that you have be-
 
 152 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 come so dazzled by the glorious opportunities of 
 youth that you harbor the impression that you can 
 build a railroad through our property without so 
 much formality as ' by your leave ' ? " 
 
 " Hardly that, Mr. Sykes," he admitted with the 
 shadow of a smile. " I assure you that the glorious 
 opportunities you mention have at least given me 
 some slight insight into a business proposition, and, 
 as I look at it, this is even more than that. If you 
 gentlemen care to accept it as that, without further 
 generalities, I'll assume the authority to take up the 
 matter of damages in a preliminary way now." 
 
 " What's your conception of proper terms? " It 
 was Sheffield's first question, and Danforth dis- 
 covered the man's eyes boring into his. 
 
 " I'd rather you'd make the offer." 
 
 " I don't recollect having said I'd anything to 
 sell." Sheffield thrust his hands into his pockets 
 and stretched his legs further under the table. 
 " Apparently you're the one who's in the market." 
 
 "All right," agreed Danforth; "I'm willing to 
 admit that much in order to begin to get some- 
 where. All four of you know, as well as I do, that 
 any route which would be possible must pass through 
 a section of your holdings that has practically noth- 
 ing but what Mr. Bennitt has admitted is a senti- 
 mental value." 
 
 " That's a long way from what I've admitted,"
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 153 
 
 broke in Bennitt. " You want to talk price without 
 saying what you want to buy. All right, go ahead. 
 We've some of us seen railroads and are fairly con- 
 versant with logical lay-outs. There's only one 
 sane route for you to follow and that cuts a section 
 of virgin spruce." 
 
 " Grant that. Stumpage has a market value." 
 
 " Also granted. But there is an additional value 
 of damaged property rights." 
 
 " I believe that comes under what we're vaguely 
 arguing," announced Danforth, " the matter of 
 sentiment. If, as you say, you're familiar with the 
 only possible route we can select, I'm willing to 
 make a blanket proposition. We'll give you 
 $20,000 for a right of way which shall enter Idyl- 
 wild direct from the present line and follow the 
 shortest satisfactory course to the Le Reve side." 
 
 " I'm not going to presume that a man of your 
 ability would make such a proposition seriously," 
 laughed Bennitt. " It's about as absurd as your 
 idea of values." 
 
 "All right," agreed Danforth easily; "I asked 
 you to state your terms." 
 
 " Oh, what's the use in all this palaver ! " growled 
 Sheffield. " Let's get down to cases. You can't 
 buy that right of way, Danforth. What do you 
 take us for a bunch of fools?" 
 
 Danforth wet his lips and the corners of his
 
 154 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 mouth worked. " I don't want to," he confessed. 
 " But you'll acknowledge yourself, Mr. Sheffield, 
 that up to now this conversation has not laid any 
 of us open to being charged with much more than 
 idle fencing. I'm ready to get down to facts. 
 Why did you send for me ? " 
 
 " To find out what you intended to do." 
 " I intend to build a road to Le Reve." 
 " Not through our property, my boy." 
 " Can't see who else's it can cut, Mr. Sheffield." 
 " But you can't buy it ; that's final." 
 " All right. Values can be fixed." 
 Sanctimonious Sykes sprang to his feet, his whisk- 
 ers bristling with horror. " Oh, my dear sir ! " he 
 protested. " My dear sir ! Is it possible that you 
 are threatening seizure under the rights of eminent 
 domain? " 
 
 " I didn't come here to threaten, Mr. Sykes, and 
 I'm not threatening. I'm merely trying to suggest 
 that I mean business. I came here under the im- 
 pression you gentlemen did. The whole thing is 
 puzzling in several respects. Last fall Mr. Bennitt, 
 Jr., gave me to understand that the Idylwild 
 interests were in his hands. In view of that 
 this pointless discussion comes as a second sur- 
 prise." 
 
 " It was in his hands at that period," admitted 
 Bennitt coldly. " Unfortunately, other affairs pre-
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 155 
 
 vent his handling it now. We agree to all he said, 
 however." 
 
 " Then," declared Danforth, rising abruptly, 
 " we'll consider this interview closed. I still object 
 to being considered a joke." 
 
 " Wait a moment ! " It was the first time John 
 Norton had spoken and there was an authority in his 
 tone which made the younger man pause. " I think 
 there's something here none of us understand. 
 Dan," he asked, turning to the head of the table, 
 " can't you throw some light on this ? Certainly 
 Mr. Danforth must be made to appreciate that we 
 would treat no man of his standing contemp- 
 tuously." 
 
 " There's an error somewhere," stated Bennitt, 
 changing front like a flash ; " I assure you, Dan- 
 forth, there's nothing humorous in our attitude, and 
 if my son gave you to understand there was, he 
 over-stepped even the wide authority he was in- 
 vested with. And I can promise you that none of 
 us is in the habit of requesting men to meet us for 
 the purpose of ridiculing them." 
 
 " I'm glad I misunderstood the younger Mr. Ben- 
 nitt, gentlemen; possibly we were both somewhat 
 frank." 
 
 Mr. Norton nodded grave comprehension. 
 " Danforth," he said, " you've gained the idea that 
 we're trying to discover your plans before you're
 
 156 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 ready to have them known, and I don't know but 
 you've good grounds for that impression. We did 
 have the idea that they were in shape for you to 
 talk to the point which, you'll agree, you have not 
 done. On our side you must admit that if you 
 carry out your scheme the construction gangs you'll 
 turn loose will make Idylwild impossible for us. 
 We'd like to know the worst at once in order to 
 know how to meet it." 
 
 " I'm honestly sorry I can't be equally frank, Mr. 
 Norton. The only information I'm at liberty to 
 give, I've already given. The road will be built, 
 and it will cross a corner of your property. I hope 
 we can arrive at an amicable adjustment of dam- 
 ages. I believe my offer generous, and I think you 
 will see a way to accept it in an equally friendly 
 spirit. I guarantee that Idyl Island will be safe for 
 years to come, and that we will hold ourselves en- 
 tirely responsible for the good behavior of all 
 employees." 
 
 " So you're determined to go ahead ? " 
 
 " We are, Mr. Bennitt." 
 
 "Then" 
 
 " One moment, Daniel ! " interrupted Sykes, rais- 
 ing his hand as he pushed back his chair and hur- 
 ried to Danforth's side. " Young man," he said in 
 a soothing voice, " we knew your father when we, 
 too, were young. Like you, he was confident in the
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 157 
 
 strength of his ripening manhood. Like you, he 
 was prone to judge too quickly, to fix his eyes upon 
 the end of the rainbow. Ah, you do not think so! 
 You don't, my son. I see it in your face. But I 
 am older, and it may be that experience has left 
 me trifling gifts. I will prove to you what I say. 
 He owned a quarter section of spruce to the west 
 of Le Reve and contiguous to our first holdings. 
 He, like you, came to us and we made him a fair 
 and righteous offer for his land, but his ears were 
 closed to the voice of reason. Is it not true," he 
 purred, his eyes gleaming, " that this spruce still 
 stands ? " 
 
 " I believe it does." 
 
 " And you own it now ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 Sykes' surprise was well feigned. "Too bad!" 
 he sighed. " Too bad ! It is all one of those sad 
 mistakes such as every man must look back upon 
 with regret a mistake of neglected opportunity. 
 Had only your father heeded our advice, he would 
 have reaped a pretty harvest from a wise invest- 
 ment. You see, my dear young friend, that even 
 in those leaner days we considered the welfare of 
 our friends. Yet it was not in the spirit of casting 
 our bread upon the waters, for the Book tells us it 
 is more blessed to give than to receive." 
 
 A grim smile had begun to play about Danforth's
 
 158 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 mouth and now he quietly faced the earnest little 
 preacher of charity toward all with an easy con- 
 fidence. " That's all very interesting, Mr. Sykes," 
 he agreed, " but, strangely enough, I happen to re- 
 member the other side of that deal. The price you 
 in person offered my father was one he knew to be 
 absurdly low, and it happened to be made at a time 
 when, to put it frankly, he was in a very tight cor- 
 ner even for a small lumberman." 
 
 " Exactly ! " cooed Sykes, rubbing his palms 
 triumphantly. " I knew my memory could not play 
 me false at such a time. I recollect it all as if it 
 were but yesterday. We had heard that your noble 
 mother was ill and we did our best to extend the 
 helping hand of fellowship. He was an honest 
 man, your father, but set in his ill-conceived beliefs. 
 You are his son and, like him, you are honest 
 honest but just a mere trifle headstrong. I recog- 
 nized your qualities the moment you joined our 
 little meeting; I had believed it even in those earliest 
 moments when the first rumors of your intended 
 purpose to build this unneeded road came to our 
 ears. Brother Bennitt," he cried, turning and shak- 
 ing a playful finger at the expressionless face at the 
 other end of the table, " I told you these things 
 when, in your pessimism, you dreaded that we 
 might be called upon to stilly our ears by hearing 
 what you so brutally termed ' demands for black-
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 159 
 
 mail.' But when I proved to you that it was 
 James Danforth's boy who was at the root of the 
 little idea you recognized that we had only stub- 
 bornness to deal with and your heart was as glad 
 as mine." 
 
 The smile had vanished and a frown creased 
 Danforth's forehead. He had heard much of the 
 devious ways of Sanctimonious Sykes and knew 
 that if there were meat in the nut he so fulsomely 
 mouthed he would reach it in his own good time and 
 in his own fashion. Although impatient to termi- 
 nate the meeting and to leave without the open rup- 
 ture which he felt had been about to come when 
 Sykes broke in, he determined to hear him to the 
 end. 
 
 " I regret, I deeply regret," the little man went 
 on, stroking his whiskers with both white hands, 
 " I regret exceedingly that you have permitted that 
 quarter section of spruce to pass from your hands. 
 It was of that, too, that we wished to speak. You, 
 my dear friend, have been so short-sighted as to 
 keep us from your confidence. I know that the son 
 of my old friend will appreciate that it is with no 
 intent of heaping coals of fire upon a proudly carried 
 head, but with the hope that we may be able to do 
 the son of an old wilderness comrade a good turn, 
 that I am about to share our confidence with you. 
 We plan, if the Lord in his wisdom sees fit to pro-
 
 160 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 long our days, to renew our lumber operations at 
 Idylwild and it is because of this that we were 
 prepared to make you an offer for that old quarter 
 section of spruce. It was a little company which 
 we proposed to form an association just between 
 five good friends. There would have been a just 
 profit for all, and we would have helped you upward 
 for your own sake as well as for your father's. But 
 you have sold the spruce. Too bad, too bad ! Per- 
 haps," he suggested with a sudden hopeful smile 
 which was the token of a newly-grasped idea, " per- 
 haps you could re-buy the land? " 
 
 John Norton had quietly risen and now stood by 
 one of the windows, his hands clasped behind his 
 back. Sheffield, still immovable, glared at his feet, 
 and only the rhythmic " tap-tap " of Bennitt's slowly 
 revolving pencil broke the brief silence. 
 
 Danforth's jaw had become aggressively square 
 and his hands, gripping the chair back, showed white 
 spots beneath the upturned knuckles. His eyes 
 were fixed on Sykes's masklike face and when he 
 spoke there was absolutely no feeling in his voice. 
 " I have no money to invest in that manner," he 
 said. 
 
 " It is easily borrowed from good friends on a 
 personal note," suggested Sykes quietly. " The re- 
 turns will be sure and large." 
 
 The younger man's self-control snapped, and he
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 161 
 
 took an impetuous step nearer the still placid Sykes. 
 " Yes," he said, his eyes snapping, " very large for 
 me and larger yet for you. But not for even the 
 doubtful honor of becoming the associate of A. P. 
 Sykes will I sell out my friends." 
 
 " What is your price? " The mask fell from the 
 meek face and all the man's craft and sneering con- 
 tempt of those who barred his way showed in the 
 shifty eyes and in the curl of the lowered under lip. 
 " How much do you want ? It's cheaper to elimi- 
 nate you in that way." 
 
 In the instant's pregnant silence John Norton 
 strode across the room and pushed Sykes aside. 
 " Alonzo," he said in a quiet voice, " you've done 
 the thing I begged you not to do. I'm absolutely 
 out of sympathy with Mr. Danforth's project, but 
 I'm equally so with your methods." He paused as 
 if considering the advisability of demanding an 
 apology, but apparently Danforth's expression told 
 him that such a thing would be fruitless, for he 
 deliberately turned his back on his associate. " I 
 fully realize," he went on, " that it is only with your 
 tolerance that I can say what I have to say, but I 
 ask that you will listen for our good as well as your 
 own." 
 
 Danforth, still too enraged to trust his voice, 
 nodded. 
 
 " Thanks. I'll be as brief as possible. I think
 
 162 
 
 you must comprehend that from our point of view 
 this road to Le Reve is intolerable. We shall not 
 permit it to be built. There are but two alterna- 
 tives for you, and I sincerely trust you will see your 
 way to accept the first. You and your unknown 
 associates " he emphasized the " unknown " mean- 
 ingly "have been to some expense. If you and 
 they will name a representative we hope it will 
 be you, Mr. Dan forth we will do the same, and 
 you and I will then select a third. We will then 
 go over your books, put a generous price on all 
 work done, and then, provided you will agree to 
 drop the entire project, we will pay you that price 
 in cash." 
 
 " I cannot accept." 
 
 " Good work ! " growled Robert Sheffield, 
 straightening suddenly and looking at Danforth in 
 frank admiration. 
 
 " Very well," agreed Mr. Norton gravely, 
 " you've forced me to act. I said we would not 
 permit the building of this road and I mean it." 
 He reached across the table and picked up the tele- 
 phone. " Tell Johnson to file the plans," he or- 
 dered, then replaced the receiver and turned to Dan- 
 forth. " Doubtless you've expected that we'd re- 
 sist," he said, " and probably you've made your 
 own plans. I so appreciate your attitude during this 
 trying situation that I'd like to save you what
 
 THE BIG GUNS SPEAK 163 
 
 temporary uneasiness I can. We do not intend to 
 fight this through court and Legislature. We wish 
 it settled immediately for our own peace of mind 
 at Idylwild. For that reason we've sent a man to 
 Augusta, and for the past hour he's been at the 
 other end of the wire ready to act should necessity 
 demand. He's now on his way to the office of the 
 railroad commissioners, and, before you can act, 
 he will have filed a complete set of plans for a rail- 
 road into Idylwild, which property has been trans- 
 ferred to the newly organized railroad company. 
 You can secure no conflicting charter. I am sin- 
 cerely sorry you have forced this action, which, 
 you must appreciate, completely blocks your own 
 project." 
 
 Dan forth drew a quick breath and his shoulders 
 squared back. " I think you've done me an uncon- 
 scious injustice, sir," he said, his whole face light- 
 ing. " I naturally hoped to make something out of 
 this road myself, and while neither my associates 
 nor I can afford to take a loss, that is, after all, a 
 small consideration so long as the people of Le 
 Reve are to have the road. Anything I can do 
 to" 
 
 He stopped abruptly. The expression which had 
 come into John Norton's eyes knocked his world 
 into chaos, and through the turmoil he vaguely heard 
 the dry chuckle of Sanctimonious Sykes. Slowly
 
 164 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 the cleverness of their counterstroke began to dawn 
 on him, and from the wreck of his own plans rose a 
 vision of the pretext for a railroad meandering into 
 Idylwild through the waste places. Over wabbling 
 tracks crept a decrepit engine, its bell jangling the 
 knell of the little village of Le Reve, its dilapidated 
 train meeting the legal demands of their franchise. 
 With an effort which was the greatest he had ever 
 been called upon to make, he pulled himself together 
 and his cold glance moved from face to face. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said firmly, " the road to Le 
 Reve shall be built and it shall be run as a rail- 
 road. Good afternoon."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 
 
 DANFORTH, his features grim with determination, 
 came from the Bennitt building fully realizing his 
 predicament and with no desire to minimize the 
 desperateness of the fight he had promised to make. 
 His one idea was to see the Mittendorfs and align 
 his reserves. It was no longer a matter of waiting; 
 suddenly ousted from what he had considered a 
 secure position, necessity now demanded a telling 
 counter attack. But at what point to direct it was 
 the problem. He could discover no weak spot in 
 the scheme which John Norton had so calmly 
 sprung. 
 
 With head bent into the driving rain he turned 
 sharply north, so sharply that he missed the one 
 thing which could have brought him comfort. 
 Betty Norton, seated in her father's limousine 
 drawn up against the curb, did her startled best to 
 attract his attention, but before she could send a 
 footman in pursuit Danforth was lost in the crowd. 
 
 Five minutes later he entered the offices of Mit- 
 tendorf & Co., with an air of confidence no one 
 
 165
 
 166 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 would have suspected of being artificial. " Ask 
 Mr. Nathan Mittendorf if he'll see me a moment," 
 he said crisply. 
 
 "He's at liberty now, Mr. Danforth." 
 
 " Good ! " He crossed the outer office and passed 
 into one of the private rooms. 
 
 " Hello, Nate ! " he exclaimed heartily, as he 
 closed the door behind him. 
 
 There was a touch of inherent Prussianism about 
 the man who rose from the roll-top desk. Even in 
 the closely cropped black hair was a suggestion of 
 aggressiveness and force which was strangely com- 
 forting to one in Danforth's present mood. 
 " Hello, old man ! " he cried, his hand extended. 
 " Have a cigar? " 
 
 Danforth sank into the indicated chair with a 
 sigh of relief. " Pleasant pair of highbinders, Ben- 
 nitt and Sykes," he observed, striking a match on 
 his heel. 
 
 " Warned you," reminded the other. " Did Sanc- 
 timonious preach you a sermon on the Golden Text 
 and then make a lunge at your back? " 
 
 " They landed flush between my eyes. They've 
 put their cards on the table at last and they surely 
 know how to stack a deck." 
 
 " Let's have the worst." 
 
 Danforth drew a long breath, and, putting one 
 arm on the corner of the desk, leaned forward.
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 167 
 
 " You were right when you said they'd fight," he 
 said earnestly. " They've hatched the most devil- 
 ish scheme man ever thought out. It's to build a 
 dummy road of their own." 
 
 Mittendorf's eyebrows lowered into ridges. 
 " Block our charter, do they? This is serious." 
 
 " Serious ! If that's all, we're in luck for once." 
 
 "How?" The telephone at his elbow buzzed 
 and Mittendorf turned impatiently. His frown 
 deepened as he listened, and then, after a moment, 
 he hung up, pushed back his chair and rose. " Ex- 
 cuse me for a second, Steve. My father wants to 
 speak with me." 
 
 It was a long ten minutes before he returned, 
 and, closing the door carefully, came back to his 
 seat. " How do you intend to get around that 
 dummy road, Steve?" he asked, as if nothing had 
 interrupted. 
 
 " I don't know yet. I'm down now, but I'm a 
 long way from out I know one thing, though - 
 we'll give that pair all they need for once." 
 
 " Better go slow," advised the banker. 
 
 " It isn't a time to go slow ; we want action." 
 
 " You're apt to get it." 
 
 " I'm not afraid of it. Come on up to Augusta 
 to-night and take a look at their plans." 
 
 " Can't leave, Steve," he said, picking up a paper 
 and thoughtfully pushing it into an already over-
 
 168 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 crowded pigeon hole. " The most lovable thing 
 about you is that you never know when you're 
 licked." 
 
 Dan forth smiled for the first time in an hour. 
 " I've too much at stake here ever to acknowledge 
 that," he said. " Let's hear what you've got to 
 suggest." 
 
 Mittendorf would not have been where he was if 
 he had been a slow thinker. He decided to take 
 the game into his own hands and bring it to an end. 
 " All right," he said, " I'll suggest we go out, buy a 
 pair of good, stiff highballs and drink to better luck 
 for our next venture." 
 
 The man at his side stiffened. " Our next one? " 
 he repeated. " Don't get the idea we're through 
 with this one yet." 
 
 Mittendorf wiped his lips with an immaculate 
 handkerchief. " I am," he announced, " and you'd 
 better take a friend's advice and drop it, too." 
 
 " Do you mean to say you quit ? " 
 
 " I mean to say we have quit, Steve. Self-pres- 
 ervation is the one binding law of the Street." 
 
 Danforth rose abruptly and a contemptuous light 
 came into his eyes. " I thought you had more 
 sand," he said. 
 
 " It's not a question of sand but of sound busi- 
 ness sense, which you ought to appreciate. One of 
 the most powerful cliques in town has just passed
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 169 
 
 us the tip to quit backing a dead horse. Business 
 isn't run on friendship. You don't neglect such 
 tips but once." 
 
 " I haven't asked you to neglect it, have I ? 
 Neither have I asked you to try to explain why 
 you're welching. The fact that you have is enough 
 for me. I'm damned glad you've shown yellow be- 
 fore we got into a tight corner." 
 
 " Tight corner ! " he echoed, too surprised at Dan- 
 forth's nerve to resent his insult. " Good God, 
 man ! Are you insane ? " 
 
 Danforth turned. " No," he snapped ; " not now. 
 I understand you city men." And putting on his 
 hat, he walked out. 
 
 A wild thing, wounded close to death, will fol- 
 low one of two courses dependent upon its prowess. 
 Either it will turn, raging, and fight with blind fury, 
 or obey that instinct which sends it off to die where 
 none may watch its agony. Danforth, as he left 
 Mittendorf's office, was ready to hit right and left, 
 to strike, to rip, to kill. His whole belief in human- 
 ity was slipping through his tight-gripped fingers. 
 Nathan Mittendorf, above all others, he had trusted. 
 Yet at the first warning clink of dollars he had de- 
 serted, left him without the financial backing upon 
 which his whole scheme rested. He realized now 
 that all along he had expected opposition from the 
 Idylwild men but that could have been met and con-
 
 170 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 quered. It was this treachery of Mittendorf's 
 which was the death blow. 
 
 A man of Danforth's type soon awakens to the 
 futility of physical rage. His pace became slower 
 and he paused long enough to apologize roughly to 
 the third man he shouldered aside. A desire to be 
 free of crowds came over him. He wanted quiet, 
 the silence of the wilderness, yearned for some place 
 where no slight noise could jar his ragged 
 nerves and break in upon his thoughts. One fact, 
 and only one, remained clear he had said that a 
 road should run through to Le Reve and he would 
 keep that word. 
 
 But how? Of what value was the backing of 
 a handful of semi-paupers like himself? Money 
 was necessary to success, and he knew none who 
 would back him after the warning of A. P. Sykes. 
 Never before had he appreciated what power might 
 mean; never had he so longed for it himself. How 
 could he go back to that loyal and trusting crowd at 
 Sackett's and say that he had failed and that all 
 their hoardings were buried with him beneath the 
 wreck of his plan? Tell them, too, that the big out- 
 side world, with which they longed to be linked, had 
 only a sneer for such men as they, only a short rope 
 for all who ventured to glance across the borders of 
 their sacred kingdom of wealth. 
 
 The one thing which remained unshaken was his
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 171 
 
 faith in the righteousness of his cause. Certainly 
 no man had ever been more grievously battered by 
 the blows of the selfish; surely no man had ever 
 had the cry of " each one for himself " drummed so 
 painfully on his ears. But through it all ran the 
 solid conviction that might will not make right, and 
 that this world was not evolved from chaos to prove 
 that the weak shall perish. 
 
 Slowly his confidence in himself began to return. 
 Mittendorf had been right in saying that the man 
 did not know when he was beaten. But Danforth 
 was far from being one of those valorous fools who 
 fight blindly. He knew that what he now most 
 needed was some one who would steady him back 
 into his regular stride, some one who would add a 
 grain of comfort to offset the sting of his own lash- 
 ing ambition, some one who could sympathetically 
 comprehend his desperate predicament. 
 
 Thoughts of Betty Norton, always present in his 
 mind, became yearnings to see her, to tell her what 
 had happened and to hear her assert that all the 
 world was not against him. The temptation was 
 almost overmastering and once he turned to enter an 
 hotel in order to telephone and discover if she were 
 in New York. But then came the thought of going 
 to her in defeat. That, his pride would not per- 
 mit, and, quickening his pace, he walked on. 
 
 If he had but known that at the moment she was
 
 172 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 endeavoring to discover some trace of him even his 
 strength would have been tested to the breaking 
 point. Her passing glimpse of his face had been 
 sufficient to tell her the outcome of that conference 
 had been according to well-worn routine for her 
 father and his associates, that he was now suffer- 
 ing from the poisonous applications of those ideals 
 which had led her into open revolt, and she knew 
 that if ever a man needed the sympathy of a loyal 
 woman it was the one who had been swallowed by 
 the Broadway crowds. 
 
 Not for an hour had she forgotten him during 
 the long weeks ; not a mail had come but she looked 
 for the expected letter ; not a day had passed but she 
 attempted to find some way to get word to him. 
 That morning her father's carelessly dropped hint 
 had given her the information she had so desired. 
 Social engagements were swept aside that she might 
 once more go to meet him, but this time under the 
 subterfuge of driving home with her father. 
 
 For her, too, all had again become black. As the 
 car had rushed up-town she had drawn the whole 
 story from her father, and the look which she had 
 given him had not increased his satisfaction over the 
 part he had been forced to play. She had said but 
 little, yet that little had not served to make John Nor- 
 ton more at ease. It was apparent that she tried to 
 appreciate it had been the insistence of Sykes and
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 173 
 
 Bennitt, reenforced by the indifference of Sheffield, 
 which had determined them to crush Dan forth back 
 into insignificance, but it was also apparent that 
 Alonzo P. Sykes would gain small pleasure from his 
 next encounter with Miss Norton. As for the Mit- 
 tendorfs where she had judged correctly she 
 could act intelligently. 
 
 Opportunity arrived far sooner than she had 
 hoped. She had slight desire to go to a dance that 
 night but a promise given days before could not 
 be disregarded. Besides, it would be far easier to 
 forget in a crowd. She had dressed leisurely and 
 now, as she came down the staircase of the Nor- 
 ton home, a clock in the shadows boomed ten. A 
 door opened and from her father's library came 
 Mr. Norton accompanied by Nathan Mittendorf 
 himself. The girl's heart leaped, and the next 
 moment she was coming toward them, hand out- 
 stretched. 
 
 " No wonder we girls are becoming acclimated 
 to the walls when you men talk business all night," 
 she said with a smile. " Mr. Mittendorf, you ought 
 to be ashamed of yourself." 
 
 " I don't know why," he answered, letting her 
 hand fall reluctantly, " but if you say I should be, 
 I am. What can I do to atone? " 
 
 " I think," she said, " you should receive the 
 most terrible sentence the court can impose. You
 
 174 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 shall take me to Natalie Gray's party and dance 
 with me twice." 
 
 " But you're rewarding me," he laughed. " Mr. 
 Norton, may your sins be visited upon you as 
 pleasantly." 
 
 " I'll attend to him later," promised the girl, turn- 
 ing toward the maid who waited with her cloak. 
 " You may rest assured that he will be made to suffer 
 when his time comes, and you are not out of the 
 woods yourself yet." A shadow passed across her 
 face, but neither of the men noticed it for gayety 
 rang true in her voice. " Dad," she advised, 
 " don't work any more to-night. Run down to the 
 opera and collect mother. You've done enough for 
 one day." 
 
 " Guess that's right," agreed Mittendorf. 
 " Good night, sir, and our thanks for letting us in 
 on this." 
 
 "On what?" 
 
 " You run along to your party, Betty ; you've said 
 it's no time to talk business." 
 
 " All right," she agreed with a quick toss of the 
 head. " Excuse me for forgetting I'm just a 
 woman." 
 
 " That's hardly fair, my girl." 
 
 " Then I'm sorry," she answered. " You and I 
 are always fair, you know." 
 
 Mr. Norton's lips tightened. It was unlike her
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 175 
 
 to strike so recklessly, and he glanced at the younger 
 man to see if he had noticed the thrust. But Mit- 
 tendorf was too engrossed with his own concerns 
 to trouble about others. Taking the fluffy wrap 
 from the maid, he gallantly placed it around Miss 
 Norton's shoulders. " Would you mind having a 
 man call up my father, Mr. Norton, to tell him I 
 have gone on to the Grays, but will see him the first 
 thing in the morning? It's pleasure before business 
 now." 
 
 " I'll do it myself." 
 
 " That," returned the man, " would be a compli- 
 ment which the Mittendorfs would much appreci- 
 ate. Good night and again my thanks." 
 
 " Never mind that," said Mr. Norton carelessly. 
 " We people believe in proving our appreciation." 
 
 " I'll prove mine if you two stand there patting 
 each other's backs much longer," protested the girl. 
 " If you're coming with me, you're coming now." 
 At her nod, the footman threw back the door and 
 she led the way toward the waiting limousine. 
 
 Mittendorf, accustomed to wealth as was Miss 
 Norton, was not, however, so confident of his social 
 standing that he could afford to risk her displeasure 
 by the least delay. So few men had been permitted 
 to boast of being Betty Norton's escort that to have 
 gained the distinction so unexpectedly offered he 
 would have taken even the risk of being brief with
 
 176 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 John Norton, whom he had come to talk with at the 
 insistence of the elder Mittendorf, not only to bring 
 affirmation of their acquiescence to Sykes's demand 
 but with the hope that their quick surrender might 
 bear the golden fruits it had. Yet throughout their 
 hour and a half in the library Nathan Mittendorf 
 had been restless, for while he had been subservient, 
 both his subserviency and his conscience rankled. 
 
 Hardly had the car swung into the center of 
 the Avenue before his discomfiture increased. The 
 girl, nestling against the deep upholstery, turned to 
 him, her face alight with interest. " Ever since I've 
 been home," she announced, " I've hoped to see you. 
 I met a good friend of yours last summer. It's 
 pleasant in these days when one doesn't know on 
 whom to rely to hear of such loyalty as exists be- 
 tween Stephen Danforth and you." 
 
 She saw him start and noticed his hands close a 
 bit tighter over the top of the cane held between his 
 knees. Conscious that her opening shot had gone 
 home, she kept at the attack with all the confidence 
 of one whose plan of campaign becomes clear. 
 
 " You know," she said frankly, " how much he 
 trusts you and just how much he relies upon your 
 support in building this road to Le Reve. At first 
 it struck me as such a fantastic plan that I couldn't 
 believe you had gone into it, but after hearing him 
 talk I began to see both the necessity and possi-
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 177 
 
 bilities, just as you two must have from the start. 
 A girl's stupid in such things, Mr. Mittendorf." 
 
 " I can't believe it in your case." 
 
 " Nevertheless, it's true," she answered with a 
 smile which hid both her desperateness and her grim 
 determination to strip him bare of his hypocrisy and 
 then toss him aside. " And as we're allies we 
 don't need to be smoothed the right way. Both of 
 us want Mr. Danforth to succeed." 
 
 He bit his lip and the color began to climb into 
 his face. " I'm afraid," he began, " that you don't 
 quite appreciate my position." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I do. I know you want me to think 
 you're playing a small part but you can't, for I know. 
 I suppose it is rather startling to learn that a girl 
 can be familiar with the inside facts of a deal. I 
 also know just how much your friendship means 
 to Mr. Danforth. One rather hates to contemplate 
 what would happen should such a man learn his con- 
 fidence had been misplaced, doesn't one ? I imagine 
 he'd be a very dangerous enemy." 
 
 " Don't you rather over-estimate his power, Miss 
 Norton?" 
 
 " Oh, no no more than you under-estimate his 
 friendship. I wish you could have heard him de- 
 fend you when I " she broke off with a little 
 laugh. " I'll own up," she said with an impulsive 
 little gesture ; " I did you a rank injustice. I'll
 
 178 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 apologize. I told him he was foolish to trust any 
 one as implicitly as he trusted you. There, I feel 
 better. I've wanted to say that. I hate the feel of 
 a guilty conscience. It takes all the joy out of life, 
 doesn't it? " 
 
 " Am I to suppose that you take me for an author- 
 ity on guilty consciences ? " he asked, and glanced 
 at her keenly. 
 
 "Oh, what's the use in fencing!" she cried im- 
 patiently, her whole attitude changing in a flash. 
 " I know what's happened." 
 
 " For the past five minutes I've suspected as 
 much." 
 
 His calmness startled her, and she leaned forward, 
 every faculty keyed high, all thought of herself gone. 
 " Does Mr. Dan forth realize how critical his posi- 
 tion is? " she asked. 
 
 " I don't think so." 
 
 " You saw him; will you tell me what he said? " 
 
 Mittendorf's short laugh brought a proud smile 
 to her lips for she felt sure that if she could have 
 heard that conversation her own anger would be 
 soothed. " One doesn't expect a man to take a blow 
 in the face calmly," he observed. 
 
 " In the face ? " she repeated meaningly. 
 
 " Oh, well, in the back, then," he said gruffly. 
 " See here, Miss Norton, I'm not specially proud 
 of the part I've played. You're fond of Steve, and
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 179 
 
 you might as well know that. When you get the 
 chance I'd like you to tell him." 
 
 "What good will that do?" 
 
 " None, I presume. I suppose I've forfeited a 
 friendship which meant a good deal to me, but it 
 had to be done." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " One does not go out into the market-place and 
 beg to be assassinated, my dear Miss Norton." 
 
 " I thought men sometimes fought," she sug- 
 gested. " I'd gathered that impression from those 
 I know well." 
 
 " It's a correct impression," he acknowledged 
 soberly; " but the kind of fighting the men you refer 
 to indulge in is the sure-thing sort; they know 
 they've won before they strike a blow. The power 
 and the money are behind their fist. We smaller 
 people can't afford to forget that." 
 
 " I wonder if you know how cowardly that 
 sounds ? " she asked, beginning to weigh a new plan 
 which had come to her like a bolt from a clear sky. 
 " It isn't like you ; you're not a coward." 
 
 He turned abruptly and his face was whiter than 
 hers when their eyes met. " I'm just that," he said 
 bitterly. " You know it and I know it. If ever a 
 man was torn on the wheel, I've been that man to- 
 day. Don't think that I'm proud of myself or that 
 I'm trying to defend my actions; I couldn't if I
 
 180 
 
 wanted to. I've been taken by the scruff of the 
 neck by men bigger than I am and told to behave. 
 If I don't, I'll be wiped out." 
 
 " My father was one of those men? " 
 
 Mittendorf lied like a gentleman. 
 
 " But I can't quite grasp your surrender without 
 even a protest," she confessed. 
 
 " Why should you ? " he exclaimed bitterly. 
 " You've purposely been kept clean of the muck 
 of the Street. A man isn't a man there he's just 
 a puppet which ducks when some one yanks a string. 
 Oh, it's a noble, up-lifting, soul-inspiring existence, 
 this game of getting money! You can see how it 
 gives a man pride in himself. Let's talk of some- 
 thing else; I'm an unpleasant thing." 
 
 His outburst surprised her as much as it surprised 
 him, but in it she found the one thing she had hoped 
 for. "Where is Stephen Dan forth?" she asked. 
 
 " I think he's gone North." 
 
 " Do you know his address? " 
 
 " I can send it you in the morning." 
 
 "I want it to-night. Will you see him if he 
 comes back to New York? " 
 
 " Gladly. But, Miss Norton," he said earnestly, 
 " don't think anything you can do can change things. 
 What has been done is irrevocable." 
 
 " Nothing is irrevocable which is unfair," she 
 stated, " and there is a way out of this. You're a
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 181 
 
 banker and broker. As the first, you've refused 
 your help; you can give it as the second." 
 
 " I'm afraid," he answered with a sorry smile, 
 " that the ethics of the Street are too nice to per- 
 mit such a robbing of Peter to pay Paul." 
 
 " But you can act for some one else ; you can use 
 some one else's money, can't you? And you can 
 keep a secret ? " 
 
 " If," he said, his voice choking, " if there were 
 more girls like you in New York there'd be fewer 
 men of my kind." 
 
 "But you'll do it?" she begged. "I'm rich; 
 none but us need know." 
 
 " I'll not do it not because I wouldn't take any 
 chance for you but because you won't want me to 
 when you think it over calmly." 
 
 " You're right. I've no right to ask you to risk 
 anything for me." 
 
 He winced. " I suppose that is a part of my 
 harvest," he said gravely, " yet it was not what I 
 meant. For once, I was not considering myself. 
 If I did as you ask it would lay Danforth open to 
 a hounding such as I've seen one man blow his 
 brains out under. Don't think that the men who've 
 put an end to the Le Reve road are the kind who for- 
 get and forgive. It's been years since any one dared 
 raise even his voice against them. Let them forget 
 Steve. He'll find another chance."
 
 182 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " You don't know him; he won't give up." 
 
 " He must, and you must do your part to make 
 him." 
 
 " I can't do that. I want him to go on. I want 
 him to vindicate himself." 
 
 " You mean you want him to commit suicide ? " 
 
 " I mean I want him to be the man he is," she 
 said, " and if you won't help me to do the little I 
 can to assist him, I will find some one who will." 
 
 The car swung in at the end of the line creeping 
 toward an awning leading to a brilliantly lighted 
 house. " Don't," he begged. " Don't rush into 
 this mess blindly. You've no idea of the complica- 
 tions you can make." 
 
 " You can hardly expect me to be afraid of my 
 father." 
 
 " I can't expect you to be afraid of anything on 
 earth. I don't think you know what fear is. 
 You're all Norton. But I want to talk more with 
 you; I want to make you see it in an unromantic 
 light ; I want you to understand that there are some 
 things which people can't do even with money." 
 
 " I don't believe that," she said, rising as the car 
 came to a stop, " and certainly it's against every 
 argument you've made. Everything seems to have 
 it's price here in New York." 
 
 " I guess you're right," he admitted ; " we all seem 
 to be for sale."
 
 LAYING A COUNTERMINE 183 
 
 She turned and looked at him queerly, a strange 
 smile stealing over her face. " What a despicable 
 thing for two New Yorkers to admit ! " she said 
 with a gay laugh. " Hurry. You're so deliciously 
 cynical I can't wait to get you and Natalie Gray 
 together." 
 
 " But, Miss Norton," he expostulated, at a loss 
 to comprehend her utter change, " even as eager as 
 I am to meet Miss Gray, I can't go in without warn- 
 ing you again against getting mixed up in this." 
 
 " Sorry," she said as she led the way up the steps, 
 " but my mind's made up." 
 
 ' Then let me help you," he said impulsively. 
 
 She stopped, turned and stood looking down at 
 him. " Openly? " she asked. 
 
 He bit his lip. " You're asking me to be a double 
 traitor, Miss Norton." 
 
 " But I'm willing to pa " 
 
 "Hello, Bet!" 
 
 She caught her breath sharply and her face grew 
 scarlet as she saw Marian Wentworth hurrying to- 
 ward her. 
 
 " Been trying to get you all day, Betty," she an- 
 nounced, slipping her arm through the girl's. 
 " Jimmie's decided he wants a house party. Come 
 out Friday." 
 
 Miss Norton saw her chance. " All right," she 
 agreed. " Marian, I don't think you've met Mr.
 
 184 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Mittendorf. Mrs. Wentworth. You see," she 
 added, turning to him, "you should have been a 
 little quicker. Now I've another engagement which 
 will necessitate our postponing that ride. Isn't it a 
 pity we can't arrange it ! " 
 
 " Oh, don't grieve on such a starry night, old 
 girl," chuckled Jimmie Wentworth, quick to catch 
 anything, "if Mittendorf cares for Long Island in 
 winter we'll allow you the use of horses or motors 
 and only charge you the price of your sprightly pres- 
 ence during the week-end." 
 
 "Thanks," cried Miss Norton, "we'll both be 
 delighted."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 
 
 SAUNTERING into the morning-room, Jimmie 
 Wentworth discovered his wife bent over a desk 
 and, calmly reaching over her shoulder, captured the 
 pen. " No one can read your letters, anyway," he 
 explained, " so why waste time you might improve 
 in converse with me ? " 
 
 " Give that back, and go away from here ! " 
 
 " There's nowhere else to go unless," he added 
 hopefully, " we try Palm Beach. We can get to- 
 night's express. I'll wire now." 
 
 " Come back here. We've a mob coming this 
 afternoon." 
 
 " Oh ! I knew my thirst for knowledge was what 
 lured me here," he confessed, returning to lean on 
 the back of her chair. " Why did I have that sud- 
 den yearning to play the gladsome host to a com- 
 parative stranger? I forgot to ask you last night." 
 
 She pushed her note from her, and, turning, 
 glanced up at him apprisingly. " You aren't very 
 clever," she admitted, " but I presume it isn't your 
 
 185
 
 186 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 fault. Did you notice anything about Betty the 
 other evening? " 
 
 " I hate to disappoint you, but I did about 
 twenty-seven men." 
 
 " I don't mean that. It was her face when we 
 met her on the way in." 
 
 " Her face looked all right to me ; in fact several 
 connoisseurs on faces quite agreed with me about 
 that particular face. It's not a very big face, but, 
 to be quite emphatic, it's a regular face." 
 
 " Oh, shut up ! Don't pretend you're stupid." 
 
 " You just said I didn't have to pretend." 
 
 " You don't." She reached up and, putting her 
 arms around his neck, drew down his head and 
 kissed him. " You're a dear ! " she said, " but, 
 sometimes, I'd like to be your widow. You know 
 what I mean. She was worried to death about some- 
 thing, and, unless I'm as stupid as you try to be, 
 that something was the Mittendorf person. I 
 wanted to rescue her." 
 
 " You did it with all the diplomacy of an ambas- 
 sador," chuckled Jimmie. " But don't make any 
 mistakes about Mittendorf; he's a good enough fel- 
 low, and I'm rather glad I got round to asking him 
 here." 
 
 " I wish I was so innocent. Oh, how I wish I was 
 so innocent! You asked him here! My dear in- 
 fant, Betty Norton made you ask him."
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 187 
 
 Wentworth straightened, and, thrusting his hands 
 into his pockets, stared at his wife with open mouth. 
 " If you'll excuse me for a moment," he said, " I'll 
 go out and talk to myself." 
 
 " And you're not stupid, are you, Jimmie, dear? " 
 she called after him, her whole slender body 
 convulsed. 
 
 " I am," he grinned from the doorway; " but I'm 
 equally vindictive." 
 
 Such a threat did not trouble Mrs. Wentworth, 
 who had a few plans of her own. Miss Norton's 
 position in the inner circle was so close to the center 
 that her sponsoring of any one would be apt to put 
 that fortunate person much in the sun, but Mrs. 
 Jimmie could well be pardoned for slightly resenting 
 the selection of Wentworth House as the social orb 
 for Nathan Mittendorf. Several things needed ex- 
 plaining, and she was not one to wait for explana- 
 tions to come tapping at her door. 
 
 As she danced into Betty Norton's room that 
 evening, her whole vivacious person was radiant. 
 " The beauty of having this tribe of Indians as 
 house guests," she announced, " is that I don't have 
 to get down early to see who's re-arranged the din- 
 ner cards. I know all the skeletons in the closets of 
 you Capulets." 
 
 Miss Norton, standing before the cheval glass 
 while her maid united a ladder of hooks and eyes,
 
 188 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 smiled brightly over her shoulder. " You're look- 
 ing quite fit," she said. " Who's to be your own 
 particular victim ? " 
 
 Mrs. Wentworth perched herself on the arm of 
 a big chair and swung a pair of gauze-clad ankles 
 with childish abandon. " You've saved me the 
 trouble of wounding the hearts of a dozen sighing 
 swains," she retorted. " It's Mittendorf for mine. 
 Sounds like the last line of a chorus, doesn't it? " 
 
 " More like the opening of a duet," flashed back 
 the girl. " You'll like him, though ; he's really one 
 of those rare events an interesting man." 
 
 " Apparently." 
 
 Miss Norton turned slowly, her attention fixed on 
 the mirror. " Get me a scarf, Lucille," she com- 
 manded. 
 
 As the maid rose, Mrs. Wentworth smiled. 
 " Expect to be cold ? " she asked innocently. 
 
 " I'm always prepared for emergencies here. 
 Thanks, that's all now." And taking the weblike 
 lace, she nodded dismissal to the maid. " Are you 
 going down, Marian ? " 
 
 " I thought I might," she admitted, making no 
 move. " See here, Bet, what's the game? " 
 
 "What's what game?" 
 
 "I wonder!" 
 
 Miss Norton, crossing the room, paused just long 
 enough to brush her lips across her friend's cheek.
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 189 
 
 " How you do love to make a mystery out of a 
 man! " she laughed. " Come along; we're late." 
 
 " You wait a minute. I don't have to make one 
 out of this man. Why have you taken him in 
 tow?" 
 
 " Maybe I'm going to make him captive of my 
 bow and spear." 
 
 " And then again maybe you're not not while 
 I'm above ground. What's become of that other 
 man ? " The color became more visible in the girl's 
 cheeks and Mrs. Wentworth was not accustomed 
 to overlook a hit. " By the other man," she ex- 
 plained, " I mean Jimmie's pal, Mr. Danforth." 
 
 A quick change came over the girl and she turned 
 back, her lips trembling. " Don't be cruel, Marian," 
 she said pleadingly. " I've all I can stand without 
 having to invent lies for you." 
 
 " What is it, dear ? Tell me." Appreciating 
 that she had gone too far, Mrs. Wentworth was in- 
 stantly contrite, and, jumping to the floor, she put 
 her arms around the girl and there was only the 
 comforting ring of real friendship in her voice. 
 " I'll do anything I can ; you know that." 
 
 She nodded, bravely trying to regain her self- 
 control. " I know," she whispered ; " I know you 
 will. That's why I've done what I have. And 
 you'll be nice to this man, won't you, for Stephen 
 as well as for me."
 
 190 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Stephen! Has it gone that far, Betty? " 
 
 " Oh, Marian, you don't know what I've been 
 through, how helpless I am! " 
 
 "Where is he?" 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Tell me about it." 
 
 " I can't now ; there's too much. Later. Oh, 
 how I've wanted to tell you for weeks ! " 
 
 "Why haven't you?" 
 
 " Because because " 
 
 " All right, dear. Whenever you're ready. You 
 know you can count on us to the end and beyond." 
 
 " I know that. I've proved it by what I've done. 
 And you won't fail me ? " She clutched Mrs. 
 Wentworth's bare arm hysterically. " You won't 
 fail me, Marian? " 
 
 " If you mean Mr. Mittendorf," she promised, 
 " he will be given the time of his unknown life. 
 We must go down. I'm shamefully late. Here, 
 powder your nose and try to look as if you weren't 
 trying to decide whether to send a Gates-Ajar or a 
 Rest-in-Peace." 
 
 Mrs. Wentworth, her course once chosen, never 
 adopted half measures, and, for once, she met with 
 just reward. She found Mittendorf a charming 
 table companion, ready to give her repartee a third 
 twist and able to do it with a touch of Continental 
 deference, which was unusual in a set where inti-
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 191 
 
 macy permits almost anything. And with his 
 ability to pay his conversational way he had an 
 unexpected reserve which appealed strongly to his 
 hostess who, it must be confessed, had feared that 
 once his welcome had been made apparent he would 
 rush his jumps. 
 
 During the early part of the dinner Miss Norton 
 found herself watching him covertly, fearful lest 
 he should make an unfavorable impression and not 
 realizing that, in spite of all she knew, she, too,' was 
 beginning to like him. Her sense of uneasiness was 
 by no means decreased when Tom Gehring, at her 
 left, turned to her confidentially. 
 
 " What's the answer? " he inquired in an under- 
 tone. " Jimmie going to get back into the market 
 and pick up a few more easy millions ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Mittendorf . Heard to-day old Sanctimonious 
 and Bennitt had taken him into a pool. Whole 
 thing's only a rumor, of course, but Jimmie's some 
 fox. Nate Mittendorf's a comer." 
 
 " Perhaps you can get him to worm you in, Tom." 
 
 " Wish I could," he frankly admitted. " I've al- 
 ways liked the chap. Glad to see him getting in 
 with the right crowd." 
 
 "Meaning?" 
 
 " Us." 
 
 "Snob!"
 
 192 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 "Sure!" he agreed good-naturedly. "If you 
 don't believe it, go out into the cold gray world and 
 listen to the anvil chorus when they mention us. 
 Why be humble when you're happy? " 
 
 "Don't get epigrammatical," she laughed; "you 
 know you haven't intellect enough to keep it up. 
 When are you and Amy going South ? " 
 
 " I dunno. Any old time the rest of you say the 
 word. Shooting ought to be good now; no one's 
 fired a gun there this year. Bet, let's all go down 
 next week. Are you game? " 
 
 " I can't, but I presume the rest will." 
 
 " Will what ? " demanded Courtland, leaning for- 
 ward. " Somebody starting something without my 
 consent ? " 
 
 " Tom wants some one to go down to High Oaks 
 and kill his tame ducks." 
 
 " Not in a million years ! My flask froze the 
 last time I was in one of his rotten old blinds. We 
 all served notice then that we'd give the place the 
 go-by till he'd put in steam heat." 
 
 " Yes," chuckled Gehring, " and then you turned 
 round and tried to take my coat and shoes in that 
 copper deal." 
 
 " Merely a protective measure, my very dear 
 young sir," mimicked the irrepressible Courtland in 
 the best manner of A. P. Sykes. " Merely a little 
 selfishness on the part of a poor old man who con-
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 193 
 
 sidered his own good health. But we darn near 
 got you, old scout ! " 
 
 " When anything as immature as you gets me, 
 my fat young friend, you'll have to sit up till after 
 sun-rise." 
 
 "Think that Othello stuff will impress Betty?" 
 
 " You don't have to tell me anything about him, 
 Billy," laughed the girl. " Every one knows he 
 goes home and confesses all his pretty speeches to 
 Amy." 
 
 " And yet her brain hasn't softened ! " exclaimed 
 Courtland. " Wonderful." 
 
 " Every one knows why yours can't, Bill. Will 
 you go next week ? " 
 
 " Sure ! Thought you were joking. Who's 
 going?" 
 
 "Might as well take 'em all." 
 
 Courtland raised his eyebrows. "Every one?" 
 he asked, with a discreet nod in the general direction 
 of Mittendorf. 
 
 " I dunno," returned Gehring ; " Amy runs our 
 parties. Up to her." With that he dropped the 
 subject as if all its other features were definitely 
 settled and started to make Courtland thoroughly 
 uncomfortable by recounting his last mishap with 
 the city's traffic squad. 
 
 Gradually the whole end of the table was drawn 
 into the favorite sport of baiting good-natured Billy
 
 194 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Courtland, and Miss Norton, finding it advisable to 
 keep her mind close at home, forgot to watch Mit- 
 tendorf and his progress toward popularity in a 
 clique which was notoriously slow in accepting new- 
 comers. It was not until they had drifted into the 
 big living-room that she had an opportunity to speak 
 with him, and even then he was one of the group 
 standing around Natalie Gray, who, as usual, was 
 leaning against a table, her hands gripping its edge 
 and her big blue eyes childishly innocent as if she 
 were puzzling mightily over what they all found to 
 roar at in her latest break. 
 
 "What's the Infant put her foot in now?" de- 
 manded Miss Norton. 
 
 " Nothing at all," responded Natalie, with a little 
 toss of her golden head. " I asked a perfectly legiti- 
 mate question and all these long-eared things brayed. 
 But I might have known you weren't acquainted 
 with my Uncle Sykes, Mr. Mittendorf," she said, 
 turning to the man with a brilliant smile, " for you 
 still have your dress suit." 
 
 " He isn't that bad, Miss Gray." 
 
 " That's true," she acknowledged. " I'm an 
 ingrate. . He's a nice, kindly old gentleman. He 
 admits it. Once he gave me a penny and never 
 asked interest." 
 
 "Did you have it framed?" demanded Billy 
 Courtland.
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 195 
 
 " Framed nothing ! It was a Sykes penny. It 
 just took its little coat off and went right to work 
 and now it's a nice, green bond. But that's no in- 
 vitation to play bridge," she cried fearfully. " I 
 want to dance." 
 
 " You danced till sunrise this morning." 
 
 She turned languidly on Gehring. " So I did. 
 But it's a good deal like cocktails, Tom hard to 
 give up all at once. You'd find that true, if you 
 tried." 
 
 " Some one start a phonograph before she springs 
 one of Uncle Al's temperance talks," groaned 
 Courtland. 
 
 " My family does not sow seed on barren ground," 
 retorted Miss Gray stiffly. " Can't some one play 
 that ornamental piano, Jimmie? Jimmie! Oh, 
 Jimmie Wentworth ! Come here. Haven't you an 
 accordion player or a Jew's harp impressario in the 
 stables? I want to dance." 
 
 " Sacked 'em both after your last visit," Went- 
 worth called across the room. 
 
 " Might have known you would," she pouted. 
 " You never want people to have a good time here. 
 Mr. Mittendorf," she charged, wheeling to shake an 
 incriminating finger in his face, " you play. Don't 
 deny it. Don't you dare deny it ! " 
 
 The man was quick to sense the vague stir of dis- 
 approval over her way of bringing him into what
 
 196 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 might be embarrassing prominence but was equally 
 quick to note her appreciation of her tactlessness. 
 " I can't claim immunity on account of having left 
 my music at home," he confessed, " because, even if I 
 had any, I couldn't read a note. I just drum, but, 
 if that will do, I'll promise to make a terrific amount 
 of noise." 
 
 Miss Gray was as quick to make amends as she 
 was to voice anything which came into her pretty 
 head. " That line about your music is the first tact- 
 less thing you ever said, Mr. Mittendorf," she 
 stated, " for I was going to offer to turn the pages. 
 Now, what excuse can I find? Come along and 
 we'll talk it over on the way." 
 
 Tom Gehring whistled softly as he watched the 
 pair move toward the piano. " Betty," he said, 
 "your discovery is about to become a controversy 
 over the priority of rights. If you want to retain 
 your laurels you'd better go tap friend Natalie on 
 the coco with a chunk of lead pipe." 
 
 " He's over six," retorted the girl carelessly. 
 
 " So's Natalie," grinned Courtland. 
 
 Before Gehring could carry it further, Mitten- 
 dorf s long fingers struck the keys. Conversation 
 stopped. He swung into a rattling, rollicking one- 
 step with an abandon which made Billy Cotirtland 
 throw back his head. " Listen to Mr. Victor Cohan 
 Wagner, the Pied Piper of Manhattan ! " he bel-
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 197 
 
 lowed. " Kick back those rugs, Jimmie, and give 
 the rats a chance. Come on, Nat." 
 
 The girl by the piano threw up her hands. " I 
 can't help it, Mr. Mittendorf," she cried, her smile 
 brilliant " It's your fault. You're sure the man 
 who put the sin in syncopation. I've got to dance, 
 and don't you dare stop." 
 
 " Not till you give the word," he promised, and 
 swung into a variation which set them all a-danc- 
 ing. He proved to be one of those players who can 
 put his good nature into his music, and they kept 
 him reeling off the Broadway hits until at last Mrs. 
 Wentworth had pity on him. As they stopped, 
 Miss Gray looked up into Mr. Courtland's decidedly 
 red face. " That man," she declared, " is the find 
 of the season ! " 
 
 " So Betty appears to think." 
 
 " Hang Betty ! " snapped Miss Gray, and, hurry- 
 ing across the room, she clutched Mrs. Gehring by 
 the arm. " Amy," she advised, " if you want to 
 make a hit at High Oaks, take my orchestra along." 
 
 " Don't worry, little one. I'm on my way to the 
 band stand now with the vice-regal command. 
 He'll go with us or we'll stay behind and see no one 
 steals him. But I guess Betty can persuade him to 
 
 go-" 
 
 " She's not going." 
 "The deuce!"
 
 198 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Don't be profane, Amy," commanded Jimmie 
 Wentworth. " You'll corrupt our Natalie's morals. 
 Besides," he added, " she's setting up as some little 
 persuader herself." 
 
 " Oh, go chase yourself ! " laughed the girl. 
 
 " Hate to be lonesome. I'd rather follow the 
 crowd. Let up on the poor man ; I know he wants 
 to play bridge." 
 
 It was quite two hours later when Mittendorf, 
 having been cut out from one of the tables, found 
 opportunity to capture Miss Norton. " I've 
 heard," he said, " just as every other outlander has, 
 of the conservatories at Wentworth House. Won't 
 you show me those, too? " 
 
 The girl looked at him quickly. " Gladly," she 
 said, and, turning, led the way toward the first of 
 the great glass houses which spread away from the 
 billiard room. " But I'd hardly call myself an ' out- 
 lander ' were I in your place. I overheard Amy 
 Gehring asking you to High Oaks. This house is 
 a public playground compared with the Gehrings' 
 shooting box." 
 
 " And for that, too, I have to thank Miss Nor- 
 ton," he said quietly. 
 
 " Don't be so modest." 
 
 " I'm not modest ; neither am I quite a fool. I 
 simply want you to know that I'm man enough to 
 acknowledge my gratitude for what you've done."
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 199 
 
 " I'm afraid I don't understand." 
 
 " Very well," he answered. " Probably it is very 
 bourgeois in me to speak at all, but if ever I did 
 a very nice thing for some one I'll confess I'd like 
 to know it was appreciated. We often make the 
 mistake of judging others by our own standards, 
 Miss Norton." 
 
 " That's true," she admitted hurriedly, fearful 
 now that his cleverness had made her mind an open 
 book. " All of us are prone to judge too quickly. 
 This is one of the best of the houses. These 
 ferns" 
 
 " I know nothing of ferns," he broke in, " and 
 care less. My only motive in asking you to bring 
 me here was that I might talk with you. Won't 
 you sit down ? " He inclined his head toward a seat 
 beneath the huge fronds of a gigantic palm which 
 seemed to reach thirstily for the silver, ripples in a 
 tinkling fountain. "Please?" 
 
 " We really should not stay here." Neverthe- 
 less she gave in. 
 
 " Some way or other," he answered, standing 
 over her, " I am human enough to enjoy the very 
 things I've no right to." 
 
 " You're not going to preach me a sermon on that 
 threadbare text, are you?* she asked, resting one 
 arm on the back of the white marble seat and laugh- 
 ing up at him.
 
 200 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 "No. No," he repeated, "what I'd like to do 
 and what I must do are the poles apart. I'm want- 
 ing to preach no more than I'm wanting to prac- 
 tice." 
 
 " What do you mean? " 
 
 " I mean," he stated calmly, " that your friend 
 Mrs. Gehring has been amiable enough to ask me 
 to High Oaks." 
 
 " I know it; what of it? Tom and Amy are for- 
 ever taking a crowd down there. It's an awful 
 bore." 
 
 " Possibly for one who is not as fond of shoot- 
 ing as I ; possibly to one who is accustomed to be 
 asked by Mr. and Mrs. Gehring." 
 
 " Don't get the impression you'd be asked if you 
 were not wanted," she advised. " They're not that 
 sort the Gehrings." 
 
 " Which makes my predicament the more embar- 
 rassing." 
 
 " I'm afraid I don't get the drift of your argu- 
 ment," she said, moving slightly as she toyed with 
 the end of her scarf. " Either you're over-modest 
 or you're seeking compliments so openly that I'm 
 not going to fall into the trap by telling you you 
 play like a professional or compare your bridge with 
 Jimmie Wentworth's. If I wanted to go to Cur- 
 rituck and slay innocent canvas-backs, I'd go." 
 
 " You could."
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 201 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" she demanded 
 sharply. 
 
 " I mean," he said, " that you belong, that you'd 
 go or stay away, as your fancy dictated. With me 
 it's different. If I went, it would be under false 
 colors." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because you are responsible for that invitation, 
 just as you are responsible for my being here," he 
 said very deliberately. " I can finish the sentence 
 you did not have time to complete the other night 
 on the steps of the Grays' home." 
 
 " Aren't you saying just a little more than is 
 wise, Mr. Mittendorf ? " 
 
 " No, I don't think I am. I am not quite a fool, 
 even if I have laid myself open to be tagged as 
 a climber. You see, I'm conscious of my limita- 
 tions." 
 
 " From what I've heard, you are the only one 
 who has discovered any," she said carelessly. 
 
 " From what I have overheard, and from the 
 light it threw upon the unexpected cordiality shown 
 me here, I have done discovering enough for both." 
 
 "What, pray?" 
 
 "If you don't choose to know, it is not for me to 
 explain. All I need to say is that I shall not ac- 
 cept Mrs. Gehring's hospitality and that I shall leave 
 Wentworth House early to-morrow morning."
 
 202 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " May I ask what excuses you'll offer? " she in- 
 quired coldly. 
 
 " To them, any or none ; to you, the truth. A 
 woman who will permit her loyalty to carry her as 
 far as yours has cannot, must not, traffic in the 
 kind-heartedness of her friends." 
 
 White, then scarlet, then white again, she sprang 
 to her feet. Her body was rigid and even her hands 
 were stiff little fists at her sides. " Of all insults ! " 
 she began, then stopped, and slowly her eyes fell 
 away from his and the blood rushed to her cheeks 
 again. 
 
 "An insult is very far from my intent, Miss 
 Norton," he said gravely " as far from mine as it 
 was from yours when you conceived this plan in a 
 stress of circumstances which prevented you from 
 seeing anything but that which every true woman 
 must be sincerely respected for putting always first 
 her desire to protect the man she loves. At first 
 I couldn't comprehend, and I'll confess to being as 
 angry as you are now, but then it became clear. I 
 saw you clutching at the straw which might mean 
 success to Dan forth. You'd discovered I had a 
 price; you decided to offer me the higher price of 
 the social entree in return for becoming a double 
 traitor. I might have accepted that price a week 
 ago," he added in a still lower voice. " Since then 
 I have learned to respect loyalty."
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 203 
 
 She drew back, as if writhing under a series of 
 blows, her hands covering her face, her breath com- 
 ing through parted lips in quick, painful gasps. 
 The palms seemed tossing in a dry, hot wind, the 
 lights swayed, and she was only afraid that oblivion 
 would not engulf her. Then the instinct which had 
 driven her into this humiliation began to whisper 
 to her numb brain and valiantly, desperately, she 
 tried to fight her way back to coherence. 
 
 "It's true," she whispered; "all you've said is 
 true. I'd go any length to help him. I won't 
 apologize." 
 
 " You have done nothing to apologize for," he 
 said gently ; " you have merely made the error of 
 underestimating your influence. I've been brutal, 
 but a man is always brutal when he most desires to 
 be honest with himself. Dan forth is not going to 
 fail. Even I am man enough to realize that failure 
 is impossible when there is such a reward glowing 
 before his eyes. New York may be closed to him 
 but there are other banking centers Chicago, Bos- 
 ton, St. Louis, Montreal. He knows them all, es- 
 pecially Montreal, where Knight of the Trans-Dom- 
 inion is supreme. He knows Knight. Knight," he 
 repeated. 
 
 " What are you saying? What are you trying to 
 tell me?" 
 
 " Nothing perhaps."
 
 204 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Knight ? Oh ! Oh ! " she cried as if something 
 were stabbing into her heart. " Why have you told 
 me that?" 
 
 " Because I want to be your friend. Now, if 
 you will permit, I must say good night. My train 
 leaves very early." 
 
 " You must not go," she cried desperately. 
 " Don't you know you must not go ! Don't you see 
 what you've done ? I don't matter ; my humiliation 
 and my contemptible positions don't matter. 
 They're mine. But what you've told me is not. 
 That's yours. I can't use it. Don't you see I can't 
 use it?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " But you must. Oh, how can I make you under- 
 stand! Don't you see that what I plotted to offer 
 has come to you unaided ? I give you my word I've 
 said nothing to Amy Gehring, dropped not the 
 slightest hint. She's asked you to High Oaks be- 
 cause she wants you, because they all like you. 
 Don't you see that I can't take pay for what I have 
 not done ? " 
 
 " But won't you give me credit for equally gen- 
 erous motives ? " he asked. " Won't you admit that 
 if, as you so kindly say, your friends are willing to 
 accept me as I am, that you should include me 
 amongst those friends and permit me to tell you 
 something that any one of the men in there would
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 205 
 
 tell you without kesitation if he happened to have 
 my sources of knowledge? Won't you accept my 
 viewpoint? Won't you believe that I am not try- 
 ing to cause you pain, but to prove that I can ap- 
 preciate something I had not the nerve to be myself 
 a fighter who'll stake everything for a friend? 
 Won't you accept what little I have to give as a 
 man's tribute to a loyal girl ? " 
 
 " I can't." 
 
 " You must," he insisted, stepping close to her ; 
 " you must. It's his only chance." 
 
 " There's some other way," she argued with a 
 piteous attempt at bravery. " He'll find some other 
 way. Oh ! " she gasped, her brown eyes becoming 
 round with terror. " Oh ! You don't think he 
 knew I was doing this ? You know he didn't know. 
 Tell me you know. Tell me ! " 
 
 "Of course I know," he assured her. " You 
 don't have to tell me that any more than it is nec- 
 essary for me to tell you over and over that every- 
 thing is all right." 
 
 " But it isn't," she protested. " You're asking 
 me to take everything." 
 
 " I certainly had no intention of driving a bar- 
 gain with you, Miss Norton," he said, his whole tone 
 changing. " I have told you what you wished to 
 know ; it is yours to do with as you choose." 
 
 Beside herself, she did not know which way to
 
 206 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 turn for cover to aid her wild defense. " To do as 
 I wish? " she repeated. " To do as I wish? What 
 have my wishes to do with it ? I'm bound hand and 
 foot." 
 
 " Remember that I am familiar with that sensa- 
 tion," he reminded her without emotion. " And 
 remember you told me I should have stood by my 
 friends at any cost. I, like you, Miss Norton, have 
 some pride." 
 
 She looked at him dully for a long moment and 
 then a strange, sickly smile came to her tortured 
 lips. " My pride ? " she asked. " Oh, I threw my 
 pride away the other night. I'm not thinking of 
 myself. Even my small mind is not small enough 
 for that. Only the utter selfishness of one of us and 
 the utter unselfishness of the other is what is tearing 
 me. You have made me appear still more contemp- 
 tible. I will take what you've told me," she went on, 
 her body stiffening with resolution, " I'll take it and 
 I'll repeat it, but when I repeat it I pay the price of 
 my own happiness. But I'll do this only on one con- 
 dition and that is that I play as fairly by you. You 
 are not to leave Wentworth House and you will go 
 to High Oaks." 
 
 " I repeat, Miss Norton, I am not attempting to 
 drive a bargain." 
 
 " Nor am I," she cried. " I am being just to 
 you."
 
 A MAN'S TRIBUTE 207 
 
 " You think you are, but my peace of mind is, if 
 you'll pardon my saying it, somewhat shaken by 
 what you've told me. I do not care to foist myself 
 upon your friends." 
 
 " Don't you believe anything I say ? No, you 
 don't," she cried; "why should you? How could 
 you be expected to? But would you stay if they 
 showed you they want you to ? " 
 
 " Listen ! " cried an amused voice from amongst 
 the shaggy ferns lining the way to the fountain. 
 " I hear the quiet murmur of half-starved voices." 
 
 "It's Natalie!" gasped the girl. "Will you 
 stay?" 
 
 "How can I?" 
 
 " Have courage ! " called Jimmie Wentworth. 
 " Rescue's close at hand." 
 
 " Maybe they don't want to be rescued, Jim- 
 mie." 
 
 " Maybe they don't. I hadn't given that mature 
 consideration. Had we better re-key the wireless 
 and listen for an S.O.S?" 
 
 " Why, look ! " laughed Miss Gray, peering 
 around the bend in the path. " They haven't even 
 built an igloo. If you two are hungry, you'd better 
 come. We're the official searching party." 
 
 Mittendorf glanced from one girl to the other 
 and the laughing challenge he saw in Miss Gray's 
 eyes almost shook his resolution. " I'm afraid it's
 
 208 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 go instead of come with me," he said. " I've got to 
 get back to town." 
 
 Miss Gray laughed. " Forget that ! " she ad- 
 vised. " This crowd doesn't worry over unimpor- 
 tant things, and you must live up to our code so long 
 as you've been adopted." 
 
 " That's just what I've been struggling to per- 
 suade him," said Miss Norton. 
 
 " You always did make a mess of everything, 
 Bet," comforted Miss Gray. " You leave him alone, 
 hereafter; I'll attend to his education." 
 
 " Heaven help you, Mittendorf , my son ! " sighed 
 Wentworth. 
 
 " Don't you listen to him," said Miss Gray. 
 
 "Who shall I listen to?" 
 
 " That," she said, " is up to you. But I think 
 you're a man of taste." 
 
 For a fraction of a second his eyes met Betty 
 Norton's, and a look of relief spread over his face 
 as he turned to the other girl. " Don't you know 
 I am," he laughed. " I'd proved that, I thought, 
 by my friends." 
 
 "Meaning Betty?" 
 
 " You also, I hope, Miss Gray." 
 
 " Oh, me ? " she laughed. " You haven't begun 
 to know me yet."
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 
 
 ALTHOUGH satisfied she had restored Mitten- 
 dorf's confidence concerning his position at Went- 
 worth House, Miss Norton had small desire to en- 
 counter him, or any of the rest of the rollicking 
 crowd the next morning. With grave problems to 
 consider, she slipped away from Mrs. Gehring, hur- 
 ried to her rooms and changed into a habit, con- 
 vinced that a sharp gallop would restore her from 
 the lassitude of an uneasy night. 
 
 A groom was waiting at the side entrance, hold- 
 ing a clean-limbed hunter. " Beg pardon, Miss Nor- 
 ton," he ventured, " the mare's 'igh strung h'and 
 the ground's 'ard." 
 
 She nodded absently, then mounting, swung down 
 the drive at a hand gallop. Beyond the gates 
 patches of snow gleamed white against the dull 
 browns of the fields on either side of the flinty high- 
 way. The open proved too tempting, and, putting 
 the mare at the rails, she cantered across the rolling 
 pasture lands, the tang of the morning reviving her 
 
 enthusiasm for the sport. 
 
 209
 
 210 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Inattentive to distance, direction or time, she took 
 the jumps as they came until a brook, too wide to 
 risk, turned her southward at a slower pace. A 
 hedge, barring her from a winding road, made her 
 look for an opening but finding none she accepted 
 the challenge with a reckless shrug. What she 
 should have foreseen, happened. The mare landed 
 on the frozen ground, slipped, slid, gamely recov- 
 ered, but stopped, trembling like the dead oak leaves 
 which rustled overhead. 
 
 Dismounting, the girl ran expert fingers over the 
 sleek skin above the strained tendon, then straighten- 
 ing, rubbed the soft muzzle thrust against her 
 shoulder in search of sympathy. " It's my fault," 
 she grieved; " it's all my careless fault! " 
 
 While this may have soothed the mare it certainly 
 did nothing toward alleviating her own predicament. 
 Knowing that she must be several miles from Went- 
 worth House, the idea of leading home a limping 
 horse did not strike her as being particularly attrac- 
 tive, and she quickly concluded that her best course 
 would be to find a telephone, so, putting an arm 
 through the bridle, she started down the road in 
 search of some farm or country place. 
 
 Had she been seeking solitude she would have 
 found nothing but dwellings. The one she did dis- 
 cover had neither telephone nor welcome and she 
 trudged on, convinced some early turning must lead
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 211 
 
 to a main road. Finally a sign post set her right, 
 and she quickened her pace as much as the mare's 
 condition would permit, eager to reach the store in 
 the village ahead and so avoid further interviews 
 with disagreeable house-holders. 
 
 Conscious that the few she passed eyed her cu- 
 riously, she kept close to the edge of the road, intent 
 only on selecting the softest footing. As she came 
 abreast a winter-dreary hedge surrounding a white 
 cottage there came a startling crackle of dry twigs, 
 followed by a shrill " whoop ! " and the mare shied 
 wildly. 
 
 Miss Norton quieted her, then turned to discover 
 the cause of her fright. Squarely in her path posed 
 a sturdy little figure, a wooden tomahawk upraised 
 in one chubby fist, a rainbow of chicken feathers 
 wreathed about his golden curls and his dimple- 
 suggesting person concealed beneath a department 
 store's conception of aboriginal panoply of war. 
 "Halt!" he commanded jubilantly. "You're the 
 captif of my bowanarrer." 
 
 The girl stopped, torn between the endeavor to 
 control her laughter and her desire to gather the 
 cherubic savage into her arms. " Help ! " she man- 
 aged to gurgle. 
 
 " 'Sistance is far away," he assured her gravely, 
 " an' the plains is quite lonesome right now. Is the 
 pony broken? "
 
 212 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " I'm afraid so." 
 
 " What's your name ? You'd better tell me 
 troof'ly or I'll have to torture you." 
 
 " That wouldn't be very gentlemanly," she sug- 
 gested. 
 
 " No, I guess it wouldn't be." Then, more hope- 
 fully, "But I'm not a gent'man; I'm Chief Kill- 
 the-Pale-Face, an' you is the captif of my bow- 
 anarrer. You're a very pretty lady," he admitted 
 after his second critical apprisement. " When I 
 grow up, maybe I'll marry you if you'll wait. I 
 guess I'll do that," he decided ; " it will be nicer 
 than tort'ing you. Would you like to see my wig- 
 wam ? " 
 
 " Is there a telephone in it, Chief? " 
 
 " Why, no, not just yet. You see it's only a 
 make-believie wigwam. But when you want to 
 order our dinner I'm sure Mamma will let you use 
 hers. I'll ask her right this minute." Being a fore- 
 handed Indian, he promptly proceeded to disappear 
 through the hedge, calling " Mamma ! Mamma ! " 
 at the top of his lungs. 
 
 The girl, relieved at this easy solution of her 
 troubles, waited until he came capering back fol- 
 lowed by a slender, black-gowned figure, and Miss 
 Norton at once recognized the source of the child's 
 beauty. There was a wistfulness about the young 
 mother's expression that touched her, and, even be-
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 213 
 
 fore she heard the soft, musical voice, she felt as 
 friendly as she had toward the child. 
 
 " I'm sorry to bother you," she explained, " but 
 I do want to call up Wentworth House and beg a 
 relief party. I've had a slight accident." 
 
 "Of course. You're not hurt? Laddie," she 
 said, capturing the Indian, " run to the barn and 
 tell John to come and hold the horse." 
 
 He was off like an excited rocket, exploding 
 " Johns ! " at every step and the two watched him 
 until, all at once, the mother turned, her face wor- 
 ried. " I hope my boy was not the cause of your 
 accident," she said. " He's " 
 
 " He's adorable," finished Miss Norton. " My 
 own carelessness caused my downfall. I'd no busi- 
 ness to try jumping on frozen ground." 
 
 "That's true," admitted the other; "but doing 
 the things we ought to do does grow monotonous. 
 Here comes my general factotum. Let him take 
 care of the mare till they come for you. I can't 
 allow you to stay out here." 
 
 The triumphant Indian, torn between desire to 
 talk horse with the adored John and curiosity to 
 over-hear what might be said over the telephone, 
 vaccillated from foot to foot until Miss Norton's 
 gay nod re-awakened his admiration. Putting one 
 hand in hers, and clutching his mother with the 
 other, he walked between them into the cottage.
 
 214 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 But if he was disappointed in being lured beyond 
 the telephone, he showed no trace of it when Miss 
 Norton finally came into the sunny sitting-room. 
 In fact the surprise was hers, for it was empty, 
 except for a prancing steed who, with much champ- 
 ing of jaw and pawing of the air, was making ready 
 for a dashing bit of cross-country work over a 
 hassock, the waste basket and an over-thrown 
 rocking chair. " Mamma's gone to make us a 
 party," he announced, then took the hassock in full 
 stride. 
 
 No sooner had Miss Norton sunk into a chair 
 than the hunt metamorphosed into a very affection- 
 ate youngster who clambered into her lap without 
 apology. " Will your Mamma scold you 'cause you 
 broke your pony ? " he asked, his chubby hand pat- 
 ting her cheek comfortingly. 
 
 " It isn't my pony." 
 
 The big eyes grew bigger. " Did you stole it ? " 
 he asked in an awed whisper. 
 
 " No." She found herself sorrowing over hav- 
 ing to lower herself in his esteem. " No, I only 
 borrowed it." 
 
 " Never mind," he retorted consolingly; " we can 
 play you did an' that the hangers are chasing you. 
 I'll make you a hidie-hole an' 'tect you. I guess," 
 he went on, squirming to the floor, " if you'll get 
 up, please, I'll make part of it with your chair. I
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 215 
 
 mos' always do. It makes a mos' ex'lent hidie- 
 hole with the sofa." 
 
 " It's going to be rather small," she observed, 
 watching his quick work with chairs and pillows. 
 
 " That's the very nicest part," he proclaimed ; 
 " we'll have to cuddle very tight." 
 
 Stooping impulsively, she kissed the rounded 
 cheek. " Yes," he announced, " next time I'd rafer 
 you'd kiss my mouf . Listen ! " His whole atti- 
 tude changed to vigilance, and, snatching the almost 
 forgotten tomahawk from the table, he raised it 
 threateningly, while his other hand sheltered his 
 piercing glance. " The hangers ! " he stated. " I 
 hear their footprints on the front walk." 
 
 She, too, heard. " It can't be from Wentworth 
 House," she said ; " that's too far away." Then, 
 perceiving his disappointment, she tried to make 
 amends. " It is the hangers," she cried. " They've 
 come for me and I haven't time to hide. Save me, 
 noble Indian ! " 
 
 " I'll save you," he promised, springing in front 
 of her. But when the front door opened, then 
 closed with a bang which shook the house, one val- 
 iant hand stole back and clutched at her habit. " I'll 
 I'll save you," he repeated with a gulp. 
 " Don't don't be afraid. Most probably it's just 
 -Oh! Oh!" 
 
 The tomahawk clattered to the floor and, hurl-
 
 216 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 ing himself across the room, he leaped into the arms 
 held open to welcome him. " An' I was goin' to 
 slay you," he cooed, " 'cause I thought you was a 
 hanger coming to capture her." 
 
 For a moment he clung there, radiating affection, 
 but then something in the tightness of the strong 
 arms, something in the silence, made him lean slowly 
 backwards, first to look up into the set face, then 
 to turn wonderingly toward the immovable girl who 
 stood by the half-built hidie-hole, her lips parted, 
 her brown eyes wide and her hands clutching the 
 table's edge. " What is it ? " he asked in an awed 
 whisper. " What is it, Big Stephen ? Don't you 
 like my pretty lady ? " 
 
 The childish voice brought Danforth to his senses. 
 " Like her! " he cried, putting the youngster on his 
 feet. " Yes, Stevie, I think I like her." And he 
 crossed the room in four great steps. 
 
 Little Stephen, bewildered, looked on in silence, 
 but at length his jealousy conquered. " She didn't," 
 he mournfully announced, " she didn't kiss me like 
 that." 
 
 With a happy little laugh Betty Norton freed one 
 arm, and, still clinging to Danforth with the other, 
 drew the child close. " If you'll do your share," 
 she asserted, " we'll try to make him very, very 
 jealous. And I know you'll be lots nicer to me and 
 never run away and forget."
 
 LITTLE STEPHEN, BEWILDERED, LOOKED ON IN SILENCE "
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 217 
 
 " No," he agreed ; " neither would Big Stephen. 
 He never forgets anybody, 'specially me; do you, 
 Big Stephen?" 
 
 " Never ! And you can prove that by what's out 
 in the hall." 
 
 The youngster tumbled to the floor like a kitten 
 and was running almost before he was on his feet. 
 The girl, her hands once more on Danforth's 
 shoulders, looked gravely up into his face. " Why," 
 she asked, " have you done what you have done when 
 you knew I wanted you so ? " 
 
 " No woman wants a failure tagging after her." 
 
 "If I'm willing to accept your estimate of your- 
 self aren't you generous enough to believe I know 
 my own wants? But you're not a failure, never 
 have been and never can be. You've a lot of ex- 
 plaining to do; you might begin at the beginning. 
 What are you doing here? " 
 
 " That's about the end," he retorted, his hand 
 caressing her cheek. " But I presume a girl wants 
 to hear the end first." 
 
 " You've presumed so much, dear," she said, 
 " and with such wonderful results for us both, 
 that I'd give up the pastime, were I in your 
 place." 
 
 " I'll give up anything you say but you." 
 
 " As long as you're in the mood for making new 
 resolutions," she suggested demurely, " why not
 
 218 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 stick to your original one and tell me what you're 
 doing here? " 
 
 Before he could begin, a door opened and, glanc- 
 ing around, he saw the little woman in black stand- 
 ing on the threshold, a tray of tea things held in both 
 hands. " Hello, Millie ! " he called, with boyish 
 pleasure. " Didn't expect me again so soon, did 
 you?" 
 
 Quickly crossing the room, she put her modest 
 show of hospitality on the table, then held out both 
 hands. " I never expect you, Stephen," she said, 
 " but you know how glad I always am to see you." 
 
 Miss Norton looked from one to the other and 
 then a queer expression came over her face. " This 
 seems to be a day of surprises," she said. " I didn't 
 expect to see him, either. But if one of you'll be 
 generous enough to tell me where I am, possibly - 
 
 "Don't you know Millie!" exclaimed Danforth. 
 
 " Not as well as I believe I want to." 
 
 The little woman flushed prettily. " How 
 thoughtless in me, Miss Norton," she cried. " I al- 
 ways take things too much for granted. You see," 
 she went on, " I guessed who you were. One 
 couldn't help recognizing you from Stephen's de- 
 scriptions, and I thought " 
 
 "If you get analyzing your thoughts, my dear 
 girl, we'll never get anywhere. She's about the best 
 friend a man ever had, Betty, and if you don't want
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 219 
 
 to call her ' Millie ' she'll answer to Mrs. Williams. 
 And, by the way, if you two haven't met before, sup- 
 pose you do a little explaining yourself. How did 
 you get here? " 
 
 <v Rode part way and walked the rest. Now you 
 explain," 
 
 " She met with an accident, Stephen." 
 
 " You're not hurt, are you ? " 
 
 " Yes," she solemnly assured him, " desperately. 
 But we'll settle that later. You may be able to al- 
 leviate your own sufferings somewhat by giving an 
 account of yourself. I assure you it's worth con- 
 sidering." 
 
 "Sorry to disagree with you," he retorted, lean- 
 ing against the table. " I'm afraid what I've done 
 hasn't been worth anything to anybody." 
 
 " Is it as bad as that? " asked Mrs. Williams anx- 
 iously. 
 
 " Worse. That's why I left Augusta. There 
 was no need to stay there and root to the mourner's 
 bench. I'm almost ready to believe that Mittendorf 
 was right when he said that I was backing a dead 
 horse." 
 
 Miss Norton's face grew sober but Mrs. Williams 
 smiled. " I've seen you in tighter corners," she said 
 proudly, " and you've yet to quit. He doesn't talk 
 that way often, Miss Norton," she explained, turn- 
 ing to the girl, " but, really, the poor fellow's had
 
 220 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 some hard knocks of late. They've been enough to 
 take the heart out of any man." 
 
 " I know." 
 
 " That's passed," said Danforth uncomfortably ; 
 " let's forget it." 
 
 " No," contradicted Mrs. Williams, " we're not go- 
 ing to forget it, because I don't believe she knows 
 half the story. You never were good at telling 
 things about yourself, Stephen, and I'm sure that in 
 spite of what she thinks she knows, she doesn't know 
 half." 
 
 "If you don't tell me, you know him well enough 
 to be sure he never will." 
 
 " Did he tell you he began this railroad work 
 weeks before the doctors gave him permission? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " He had more important things to tell her," com- 
 mented Danforth. 
 
 " You keep still ! " commanded the girl. " Go on, 
 Mrs. Williams." 
 
 " Did he tell you how desperately ill he'd been ? " 
 
 " I guessed that." 
 
 " Did he tell you the cause? " 
 
 " Very little ; something about an accident." 
 
 " Why go into that, Millie ? " he growled ; " it's 
 just tearing your own wound open." 
 
 " It will always be open, dear," she quietly re- 
 torted, " and I want her to know, I want her to know
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 221 
 
 that you never give up, that you fight to the end, 
 and I want her to know my side why we're here 
 and why I'm alone. My husband was his best 
 friend," she went on evenly, speaking directly to the 
 girl now ; " he was a mine superintendent in Idaho. 
 Stephen was doing some engineering work on a new 
 road for our company. Last winter there was an 
 accident. Of course my Billy went down. A lot 
 of his men were imprisoned by the cave-in. He 
 didn't come back. They told me he, too, was dead. 
 But Stephen wouldn't listen to them. He went 
 down went in spite of all they could say. He 
 brought Billy back to me. He only lived an hour. 
 He couldn't say much just * good-by.' But 
 Stephen went back into the mine. They thought he 
 was mad. Later they found out he'd promised my 
 husband he'd save the men. He did. But it almost 
 cost another life. He was terribly hurt when they 
 finally brought him back here to my old home to try 
 to give him back what he'd risked for mine. It was 
 all I could do. Billy would have wished me to do 
 that." 
 
 The girl leaned forward to give Mrs. Williams's 
 hand a sympathetic squeeze. " You didn't have to 
 explain," she said ; " I know him just as I hope 
 you'll let me know you. But I'm sorry, oh, so 
 sorry, for you and Little Stephen ! " 
 
 The woman's smile was as sweet as it was brave.
 
 222 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 "I've the boy," she said; "we help each other. 
 What's become of him? I presume your horse 
 proved too great a temptation." 
 
 " He's out in the hall," explained Danforth, glad 
 to change the subject. " Imagine he's wrestling 
 with a package." 
 
 "You're too generous, Stephen!" she protested. 
 " You'll spoil him." 
 
 " Oh, let the kiddie have a little fun ! I know 
 what it is to want things and take it out in want- 
 ing." 
 
 " But you give us so much." 
 
 " Yes," he laughed, " I'm the pauper prototype 
 of all the plutocrats. Just wait till he gets into long 
 pants and I begin to shower him with libraries. Hi, 
 Steve ! Bring it in here." 
 
 " Can't you be serious ! " she exclaimed hope- 
 lessly. 
 
 " Not when you're absurd. Besides, Miss Nor- 
 ton's interested in railroads; she wants to see this 
 one." 
 
 There came a clatter of tin, followed by a near- 
 imitation of an engine's whistle as little Stephen ap- 
 peared, his face wreathed in smiles, his arms full of 
 a tangle of tracks, cars and miscellaneous railroad 
 material. " See what Big Stephen's brought," he 
 cried. " The choo-choo's red with real go-round 
 wheels."
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 223 
 
 " I never dreamed of such a wonderful thing," 
 exclaimed his mother, " never in all my life! " 
 
 " I have," he retorted gravely, " most ev'ry night." 
 
 " Let's put it together," suggested Miss Norton, 
 dropping to her knees and beginning to link the 
 pieces of track. " Come on, Stephen ; you're a 
 builder of roads. Show your worth." 
 
 " The job's about my size," he retorted. 
 
 The girl leaned back and looked up at him so- 
 berly. " It isn't as bad as you seem to think," she 
 said. 
 
 " I'm afraid it is," he answered, his thoughts re- 
 verting to what he had discovered in Augusta. 
 
 He had gone there hoping to find some weak link 
 in the chain which shackled him, with which he could 
 force the construction of a practical line that could 
 be turned into a substitute for his shattered plans. 
 Instead of specifications for a rough lumber road, 
 however, he had been shown detailed maps for a line 
 promising a model piece of construction compatible 
 with the wealth of its promoters. After leaving the 
 present railhead, it followed his own survey well into 
 the Idylwild property but, just west of the head of 
 Mirror Lake, it swerved northward. Twice moun- 
 tains crowded the rails to the lake, and he had smiled 
 cynically on recalling Bennitt's stress on the neces- 
 sity of maintaining the isolation of the Island's 
 sanctity. At one of these points was a station, com-
 
 224 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 plete even to the spurs for private cars. Three miles 
 beyond, and a mile and a half from the lake's foot, 
 the road came to an abrupt end on Mirror Stream. 
 A friendly commissioner had volunteered the infor- 
 mation that this would be the terminal until further 
 inroads on the spruce made necessary the filing of 
 supplementary plans. 
 
 Dan forth, rising from his study of the map, had 
 laughed grimly on seeing that the terminal was at 
 least ten miles from the boundary of the quarter sec- 
 tion Sanctimonious Sykes had suggested that he 
 buy. The crafty chieftain's trap had had longer 
 teeth than even he had feared, and he realized now 
 that if he had accepted the suggested bribe, it would 
 have meant financial as well as moral ruin. What 
 the rest meant, he was still unable even to approxi- 
 mate, and until he had formed some reasonable opin- 
 ion, his pride prohibited him from showing his 
 scars even to the girl who watched him so eagerly. 
 " It's going to come out all right," he said ; " it's 
 got to." 
 
 " Of course it has." 
 
 His face brightened at this proof of her faith. 
 
 ' There must be something in that old platitude 
 
 about it's being darkest before dawn," he agreed. 
 
 ' The problem now is to ferret out the meaning of 
 
 this new plan. I'm working alone and in the dark." 
 
 " Is that wise ? Surely, there are some who
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 225 
 
 would be only too glad to help. All the power isn't 
 concentrated in New York." 
 
 " That's something I've got to prove." 
 
 " You said you'd help pin my railroad togever," 
 said a mournful voice. 
 
 "Stephen!" 
 
 " So I did," cried the girl ; " and we'll go right 
 to work. He hasn't been one bit nice to me, and 
 there's no reason why I should show any interest in 
 him. Why, once upon a time, Stephen," she went 
 on, picking up some of the track and beginning to 
 join it together, " he said he'd meet me somewhere 
 and didn't even bother to wait for me or send me 
 word why he'd gone. That's the sort of man he 
 is." 
 
 The youngster nodded gravely. " Most pro'bly 
 he had a 'portant 'gagement," he suggested. " He 
 has heaps of 'portant 'gagements when I need him." 
 
 " He'd tried to make one which seemed fairly im- 
 portant to me," observed the girl. " It's going to 
 take a lot of explaining, some of these days, too." 
 
 " Not as much as you think," laughed Danforth. 
 " And, by the way, Miss Norton, that double reverse 
 curve will startle the engineering world." 
 
 " It's a very good curve," she announced, exam- 
 ining her handiwork critically, " and Stephen and 
 I are very fond of it." 
 
 " He likes to tease," explained the child comfort-
 
 226 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 ably. " Most prob'ly he'll kiss you in a minute 
 an' say he's sorry." 
 
 The girl's face became crimson and Danforth had 
 difficulty in checking his desire to shout. " Young 
 man," he advised, " you dig a long tunnel." 
 
 " Don't like tunnelsies ; they're all dark." 
 
 " They've other advantages also. Millie, is that 
 stuff on the table a temptation or practical food ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I forgot. I'm so sorry. I thought Miss 
 Norton might like some coffee." 
 
 " It's very kind," announced the girl, " but I'm on 
 the tunnel shift and can't eat till the whistle blows. 
 Give it to him ; he looks as if he hadn't had anything 
 in weeks." 
 
 Danforth reached over and helped himself. " I 
 dote on lettuce sandwiches for breakfast," he said; 
 " it's just like the old days at railhead." 
 
 " Don't try to eat those things. Wait and I'll find 
 something else." 
 
 Mrs. Williams had gone before he could protest, 
 and, it must be confessed, he had slight desire to. 
 Putting down the thin bit of bread, he clasped his 
 hands between his knees, leaned forward and gave 
 his whole attention to the tableau on the floor where 
 the youngster and the girl were running tracks this 
 way and that as if connecting the pink clusters of 
 roses which formed the carpet's pattern. 
 
 " Pardon a suggestion, Mr. Williams," he broke
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 227 
 
 out, " but if you plan to have a limited take that 
 thirty-seven per cent, grade, you're courting damage 
 suits. Run your tracks round the hassock, Kiddie; 
 not over it." 
 
 " But it's more 'citing to go up and downie." 
 
 " True. I keep forgetting that railroads are just 
 playthings." 
 
 The girl glanced up quickly. " Please don't be 
 cynical," she begged ; " it's unlike you." 
 
 " All right. Where are you going to put your 
 station? Better locate near the sofa." 
 
 The child frowned. " I don't " he began. 
 
 " Put it just where you want to," broke in Miss 
 Norton. " When we need expert advice we'll write 
 him for it." 
 
 "Judging by past performances I'll wait some 
 time for that letter." 
 
 " You're not here," she laughed up at him. Then 
 of a sudden her face became sober. " You're," she 
 said with slow distinctness, " in Montreal, or should 
 be." 
 
 "Why Montreal?" 
 
 " Don't you like the city ? " 
 
 " Not especially." 
 
 " I'm sorry. I thought Stevie, give me that 
 switch. We'll put it here. And when you grow up, 
 don't forget Montreal." 
 
 Dan forth started to ask another question but, to
 
 228 
 
 her relief, Mrs. Williams returned, a plate of dough- 
 nuts in her hand. " Here," she said triumphantly, 
 " I've found these, and remembered something im- 
 portant." 
 
 He looked at her in amusement, a doughnut 
 poised in the air. " If it's important," he observed, 
 " I don't comprehend the early remembrance." 
 
 " Then maybe it isn't," she admitted. " I had a 
 letter from a man named Mr. Sykes." 
 
 Dan forth put the doughnut down. " Have you 
 come into an unexpected legacy ? " 
 
 " Not that I've heard of. I saved it for you 
 to answer. I wouldn't do anything without con- 
 sulting you, even though it was marked ' confiden- 
 tial.'" 
 
 " Millie," he retorted, " forget you're a woman 
 long enough to put the cart before the horse. I'm 
 curious as to what's attracted the hypocritical atten- 
 tion of that benevolent sneak-thief to you." 
 
 " I'll get the letter." 
 
 " You'll sit where you are and be concise. 
 You've got to learn how to handle your affairs, and 
 the first thing to learn is how to state a thing clearly. 
 If it were a receipt for cake you'd be lucid enough." 
 
 " Very well," she sighed ; " I'll try. It came day 
 before yesterday morning. We had just finished 
 breakfast and I was putting on Stephen's hat and 
 coat when the postman came."
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 229 
 
 " Was it his best hat and coat ? " queried Ban- 
 forth. 
 
 " I don't blame you ! " she said. " I'm dreadful. 
 Do you remember how you insisted on giving the boy 
 a present when we asked you to be his god-father? " 
 
 " Perfectly. Do you put two cups of sugar and a 
 dash of butter in your cake, Mrs. Williams ? " 
 
 " This cake is the kind you both have and eat," 
 she flashed back. " It was about your present Mr. 
 Sykes wrote." 
 
 " What ! " Danf orth sprang to his feet, his brow 
 furrowed. " Get me that letter ! " 
 
 " Stephen ! " she gasped, startled at the change 
 which had come over him. " Don't be angry. All 
 he wanted was to buy that land you gave the boy." 
 
 " Get me that letter," he repeated. 
 
 Frightened at his manner, she began to rummage 
 through her desk but her nervous fingers went un- 
 rewarded until she recalled a book she had been read- 
 ing. Handing him the envelope, she watched him 
 anxiously. " Stephen," she asked nervously, as he 
 finally re-folded the single sheet and thrust it into 
 his pocket, " isn't that a good deal of money? " 
 
 " I suppose it is." 
 
 " Then hadn't we better let him have the land and 
 put the money in the savings bank ? " 
 
 " It's worth seven or eight times what he's 
 offered." He walked slowly across the room and
 
 230 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 back, head bowed and hands clasped behind him, 
 then came to a halt before Mrs. Williams. " When 
 I gave the baby that land," he said, " it was about all 
 I possessed, but I wanted you three to know what you 
 meant to me and I felt that it might prove a good 
 nest egg against the time he would go to college. 
 Evidently I looked too far ahead. I don't under- 
 stand this anxiety to buy, even from what I know, 
 but if Sykes wants it, Stephen wants it more." 
 
 " Perhaps they've discovered gold there." 
 
 "We're in the East now; if there's gold, it's in 
 trees. But there's not spruce enough to pay them 
 for their trouble," he added, as if dismissing that 
 idea. 
 
 " Big Stephen," called the youngster, " you didn't 
 bring me enough track." 
 
 " Sorry, youngster." 
 
 Betty Norton put the last tin rail in place and sat 
 back, woefully shaking her head. " Help's needed 
 from the consulting engineer," she confessed. 
 " Sorry to interrupt, but this road's being built on 
 contract and our time's almost up." 
 
 " You see, it's 'bout this way almost," explained 
 the boy. " Our bestest train can't take us into this 
 city." He patted a big, pink rose in the carpet to in- 
 dicate the imaginary metropolis temporarily cut off 
 from the outside world." 
 
 " Take a short-cut under that chair," suggested
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 231 
 
 the man ; " you've track enough to reach that way." 
 
 " Can't," promptly retorted the chairman of the 
 board ; " it's woodsie and dark under there." 
 
 " 'Fraid you'll never be a railroad man if you let 
 woods shut you out of such a terminal." 
 
 The little fellow's under lip confessed that his 
 pride had been wounded. " But they aren't my 
 woodsies, Big Stephen," he gulped, " an' they won't 
 let choo-choos in them." 
 
 " Never mind him," comforted the girl, at the 
 same time shaking her head warningly. " We'll em- 
 ploy a better engineer; he lacks imagination." 
 
 Dan forth, instantly regretful, made an effort to 
 put his own problem into the back of his mind as 
 he went to their assistance. " I refuse to be dis- 
 missed for incompetence," he said, with a good-na- 
 tured smile ; " it would ruin my professional reputa- 
 tion. Let's give this constructive crisis mature con- 
 sideration." 
 
 " I knew he'd help ! " crowed the youngster ; " he 
 most always does." 
 
 " Thanks, old man." Dan forth stood above the 
 twisting mess of tracks and pretended to be deep in 
 thought. " Let's see," he mused, trying to enter 
 into the spirit of the game, " you start from that sea- 
 port under the table and run north by east toward 
 that mountain range near the hassock. After tak- 
 ing that at a grade which is bound to interest all the
 
 232 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 scientific papers, you plunge into virgin territory 
 bounded by that cluster of roses on the east and an 
 unusually appealing population on the west. Per- 
 sonally, I'd let my route drift westward." 
 
 " Stop being foolish," commanded the girl. " I'm 
 sitting on an island in the center of a large lake. 
 You can't come near me." 
 
 " I'm fairly competent in a canoe." 
 
 " This isn't Idylwild," she tossed back. " If it 
 were, all we'd have to do would be to straighten out 
 that curve and coast into Le Reve with whistles 
 tooting. There's Le Reve," she added, patting a 
 flower in the carpet tenderly. 
 
 " Don't like Le Reve," announced Little Stephen 
 promptly. " My train wants to go to this city." 
 He touched a rival rose far to the west. " My 
 train's a playmate there." 
 
 " Then, youngster, you must go under that 
 chair." 
 
 " But I can't ; I've told you that woodsies, and 
 the man who belongs to them doesn't like choo- 
 choos." 
 
 The child's plight was so pitifully like his own 
 that Danforth cast a sharper glance across the track- 
 strewn carpet, eager to do what he could to help. 
 * Those woods certainly do block you from your 
 western connections and Hold on ! " 
 
 Further and further he leaned forward, and Betty
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 233 
 
 Norton saw the flesh above his knuckles grow white 
 as his fists contracted. His brow wrinkled into 
 ridges of deep thought and lines crept into his 
 cheeks as his lips tightened. Startled at the change, 
 she was tempted to ask its cause but something in 
 his intent attitude warned her not to speak. Even 
 the child sat back and watched him wonderingly. 
 
 At last he rose, and, walking to the window, stood 
 looking out into the bright sunshine. When at last 
 he turned, his face was that of a different man. 
 " Betty," he said quietly, " I've found it ; found it 
 there in that toy Millie Williams dared to call an 
 extravagance." 
 
 "Found what?" 
 
 " The weak link. The big idea. The trap. The 
 whatever you choose to name it. If ever there was 
 a case of bread upon the waters it was that land I 
 gave Little Stephen, and I promise you I'm going to 
 gorge myself on the loaf." 
 
 " What are you talking about? " 
 
 " Don't blame you," he laughed boyishly ; " I can 
 hardly comprehend it all myself yet. I'll try to be 
 coherent, but I'd rather yell. Look." He came 
 back to her side, and, dropping on one knee, pointed 
 to the rose in the carpet she had christened Le Reve. 
 " That's my town," he said, " that's Le Reve, and 
 to the north lies the valley. They've tossed all that 
 aside like Little Stephen did. They headed west
 
 234 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 along the other shore of Mirror Lake and then 
 stopped abruptly." 
 
 "Stopped? Why?" 
 
 " Because they had to. Because they haven't title 
 to a certain piece of land I believe is vital to them. 
 Because this road of theirs is no plaything but a very 
 real proposition, which I should have seen from the 
 first. A very real proposition," he repeated, " with 
 one end at tide water and the other reaching for 
 through connections to the Canadian wheat belt by 
 joining the A. & M. at Stevie's city where his en- 
 gine's ' playmate ' is waiting. But they can't get 
 to it because of the ' dark woodsies,' ' ' he an- 
 nounced, " and because Stevie himself is the man 
 who isn't going to let choo-choos play there. 
 They've tried to steal it quietly ; that's the answer to 
 Sykes's letter, Millie. They don't dare grab it 
 through the courts for fear the publicity will give 
 away their plans. They're wonders, but for once 
 they've neglected to take into consideration a girl 
 and a kid and a four-dollar toy." 
 
 " I don't understand," confessed Mrs. Williams. 
 
 Miss Norton nodded, her eyes sparkling with ex- 
 citement. " I do," she said, " a little. He thinks 
 he can force my father and his associates to buy 
 your land for a big price." 
 
 " I know I can," he asserted ; " but that's the last 
 tiling I intend to do. You've forgotten Le Reve."
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 235 
 
 " Stephen ! '' she cried, springing to her feet. 
 " What is it ? What have I missed ? " 
 
 " Can't you see it ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Remember that my plan was to build from the 
 end of the present line through Le Reve. It was 
 this vision of an ultimate Canadian outlet which ap- 
 pealed to Mittendorf." 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 " Well, my friend Mr. Sykes disapproved. He 
 didn't want the sanctity of his ' little Idylwild ' vio- 
 lated by a stranger. His blanket of Christianity 
 could not cover Le Reve. Not being quite simple, 
 however, he saw the idea and adopted it into his 
 own family of railroads. He's a controlling direc- 
 tor in the A. & M. and a big owner in the branch 
 running to Idylwild. It's dawned on his benevolent 
 mind that it would be an exceedingly pious idea to 
 connect the two." 
 
 " But how are you going to block him any more 
 than Idylwild blocked you ? You told me, Stephen, 
 that you could take what land you needed in spite 
 of us." 
 
 "I thought I could," he admitted, "but they 
 blocked me by filing their plans. Maybe I'll develop 
 into a better imitator than they have proved origi- 
 nators." 
 
 " What do you mean ? "
 
 236 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " I mean that, if what I believe proves true, and 
 this new line is actually routed through Stevie's land, 
 I'm going to beguile the Williams family into leasing 
 it to me for ninety-nine years and build a little road 
 of my own through it. Sykes suggested I go into 
 the lumber business; I think I will. But the first 
 thing I'll do will be to file plans for a railroad over 
 which I can draw my logs. When that's done, Mr. 
 A. P. Sykes can come to me and we'll talk turkey or 
 eat a bit of crow. When I'm through maybe he'll 
 be able to see the advantage of doing some things I 
 suggest." 
 
 " He's a hard man to beat, Stephen." 
 
 " So'm I when I've a board of engineers back 
 of me like you." 
 
 " But you're guessing at all this," she protested, 
 fearful that his hopes were running too high. 
 " You've got to have proof." 
 
 "Of course I have ; but I think I know where to 
 find them." 
 
 " And you've got to have money. Le Reve can't 
 afford to risk any more." 
 
 " I'll get that, too." 
 
 " Where ? New York is closed to you." 
 
 " I know that. There' re other places." 
 
 She had been quick to note the look of pain which 
 spread over his face but she steeled herself, deter- 
 mined upon her course. " There are plenty of
 
 A ROSE AND A ROAD 237 
 
 them," she acknowledged, " but the spider's web is 
 far-reaching. Don't tmder-estimate their power 
 again, Stephen. You must find, and interest, some 
 one of equal strength. The Mittendorf type won't 
 serve now. If what you imagine is really so, this 
 will be a fight to a finish." 
 
 " Don't turn pessimist now," he pleaded ; " the 
 outlook is rosy for the first time in a week." 
 
 " I've suddenly turned practical," she retorted. 
 " I want facts. Where can you get the money ? It 
 must be some one who understands the railroad sit- 
 uation this time." 
 
 " You're right," he agreed. " But who ? " 
 
 " I'm not familiar with the interests ; you are. 
 You said something about A. & M. Is it a rail- 
 road?" 
 
 " Decidedly. Also I said Sykes practically con- 
 trols it." 
 
 " Then that won't do. Isn't there another? " 
 
 " Hold on ! Why didn't I think of him before ? " 
 he cried. "Of course. Betty, you're a wonder! 
 Any one could do anything with you to inspire him." 
 
 " Do stay on earth," she begged. " And, if I'm 
 all that, I'm also curious. Who is it? " 
 
 " You've said it already ; Knight. Knight of the 
 Trans-Dominion the man and the road Sykes is 
 trying to kill with his A. & M. Why, it's a shame 
 to do it to him ! " he exulted.
 
 238 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 A strange, glad little smile, half of triumph, half 
 of relief, came over her innocently happy face as she 
 stooped and, picking up Little Stephen in her arms, 
 kissed his plump cheek. " Kiddie," she commanded, 
 her heart leaping, " when you grow up, don't you 
 dare let any girl get her fingers into your affairs." 
 
 Mrs. Williams, still standing on the far side of the 
 table, smiled. " That," she said, " is the first un- 
 wise thing you've said. If it hadn't been for 
 your " 
 
 The girl raised her head quickly and their eyes 
 met. " If it hadn't been for my foolish questions," 
 she said, "he would have thought of Mr. Knight 
 long before. You don't half appreciate Stephen's 
 cleverness." 
 
 " No," she agreed, " I'm afraid I don't."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 TRAPPING 
 
 INCLINATION, as well as sound judgment, de- 
 manded that Dan forth act quickly. If Knight was 
 to be interested, facts, instead of suspicions, must be 
 placed before him, for he had riot been transplanted 
 from a Western road to the executive's chair of the 
 Dominion system either on account of his enthu- 
 siasms or sentimentality. He must see Knight as 
 soon as possible, but before then must have proof 
 that Sykes was planning to unite the A. & M. with 
 the Idylwild branch thereby tossing the threat of 
 fiercer competition into the teeth of the Trans- 
 Dominion. Allotting a week to the unearthing of 
 such proof in Augusta, he wired Knight for an ap- 
 pointment in Montreal on the tenth day, confident 
 that this would give him a more than safe margin. 
 Then, with Betty Norton's encouragement echoing 
 in his ears and tingling on his lips, he once more 
 started North. 
 
 But if he had guessed the intention of the Idyl- 
 wild clique he badly under-estimated their clever- 
 ness by assuming they would leave unobliterated 
 
 239
 
 240 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 footprints in obvious highways. If any one in Au- 
 gusta had been taken into their confidence, he proved 
 worthy of the trust Dan forth found only what he 
 had found before, plus a vague restlessness amongst 
 certain officials. And to add to his anxiety, he was 
 awakened on his second morning there to receive a 
 wire from Knight, now in Halifax, saying that he 
 could not be in Montreal on the twenty-second be- 
 cause an imperative Western trip necessitated that 
 he leave there on the twenty-first. If Dan forth had 
 anything of real interest, he could meet him at the 
 Quebec offices on the morning of the twentieth. It 
 shortened his time by two days, and in the two al- 
 ready gone nothing had been accomplished. For 
 half an hour he weighed his chances, then took the 
 plunge. 
 
 Fourteen hours later, stiff with cold and aching in 
 every cramped joint, he got out of a badly racked 
 sleigh in front of Sackett's store in Le Reve. 
 
 The unexpected " tink-tink " of the frozen sleigh 
 bells caused an eruption through the frost-blinded 
 entrance of the drift-piled store. Sackett, heading 
 the group, paused at the head of the icy steps and 
 peered down into the night. " Who be you ? " he 
 demanded. 
 
 " Too numb to know." 
 
 " That's Steve Danforth's voice." 
 
 " Right you are, Rufe. One of you boys stable
 
 TRAPPING 241 
 
 the rig and give me a chance to thaw, will you ? " 
 
 " Sure ! " Dave Haynes plunged down and 
 leaped into the sleigh. " Don't thaw him out till I 
 get back. Ged-ap!" 
 
 Danforth stumbled up the steps and was fairly 
 carried inside. " Keep him away from that stove," 
 commanded Nelson. " Fred, give him a stiff drink. 
 Steve, what crazy notion made you come in alone on 
 sech a night ? " 
 
 " Wanted to get here. Rub those fingers, some 
 one." 
 
 " Get some snow." 
 
 " Walk round." 
 
 " Get that coat off so's he can flop his arms." 
 
 They acted, as well as suggested. Sackett did not 
 stop to measure that drink but the rank stuff hardly 
 burned. Until Danforth began to recognize the 
 feeling of his hands, they kept him close to the 
 door, and it was not until Haynes came back that 
 curiosity overcame anxiety. But then Dave's New 
 England inquisitiveness asserted itself. " Horse is 
 some blowed, Steve," he remarked. " What brung 
 you in sech a sweat ? " 
 
 Danforth ventured nearer the glowing stove. 
 "Got the note I wrote you, didn't you, Sackett?" 
 
 " Sure ! Why the hell didn't you smash Sykes 
 between his fish eyes? " 
 
 " What good would that have done ? "
 
 242 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Don't know what good it'd done, but it'd give 
 me a heap of comfort if I'd a been in your boots. 
 We're some interested in this railroad. Thought 
 you was a scrapper ? " 
 
 Danforth, surprised at this open show of disap- 
 proval, hid his resentment behind a mask of indif- 
 ference. " There're several ways of fighting," he 
 retorted carelessly. 
 
 " Seems so," growled the storekeeper. " What 
 yer doin' here?" 
 
 " Didn't know but I'd see if I was more of a suc- 
 cess at running a line of traps than a railroad. 
 Want to go with me, Ned ? " 
 
 Young Chase, teetering in his favorite chair, 
 shifted the splinter he was chewing from the right 
 to the left corner of his mouth. " Too durned 
 busy," he drawled. 
 
 " Yes," sneered Sackett ; " taken a contract to 
 wear the seat offen that chair." 
 
 " Oh, don't be so sour, Fred ! " growled Haley. 
 "I'll go, Steve if you want an old man. But," 
 he added, " you know it's too late for fur's well as 
 I do. But if yer say fur, fur 'tis." 
 
 " Can you start to-morrow ? " 
 
 " To-night, if you give the word." 
 
 Danforth's glance expressed the thanks Rufe 
 dreaded he might voice. The offer was the one 
 thing the younger man had hoped might come, yet,
 
 TRAPPING 243 
 
 as he had made his plans, he felt that he had no 
 right to tax him with the grueling task ahead. 
 Chase, too, he wanted, and the youngster's rebuff 
 had angered him, for in it he saw the surly influence 
 of Sackett, always disagreeable when suspicious 
 about the safety of his hoarded dollars. " We'll be 
 out a week, probably, Rufe," he said. " I may 
 push across the line and let you come back alone." 
 
 " I ain't afraid o' bears gettin' me," chuckled 
 Rufe. " Make us up a grub pile, Fred, an' I'll fetch 
 it in the mornin'." 
 
 " Ain't no fool like an ole fool ! " grunted Sackett. 
 " How many traps you want? " 
 
 " Rufe has traps enough." 
 
 "He ain't got none," announced Chase; "I'm 
 usin' his'n." 
 
 " Then he's got enough," reiterated Danforth. 
 " Maybe, if you haven't grown to that chair by the 
 time he gets back, he'll tell you how to cure pelts 
 my way." 
 
 Chase grinned forgivingly as he thrust his long 
 legs further in front of him and stretched his arms 
 over his head. " Come to think o' it," he yawned, 
 " I ain't so derned busy as I was. Reckon I'd better 
 be gettin' home if I've got to start at sun-up. Must 
 have my sleep. Where're we goin' ? " 
 
 " Trapping." 
 
 " Ker-rect ! What I don't know, I won't blab.
 
 244 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Anyway, I'll come in handy keepin' the bear off'n 
 Rufe on the back trail. Got snow-shoes and stuff, 
 Steve?" 
 
 " I'll outfit him," promised Rufus. 
 
 " See here," broke out Haynes, " I don't see no 
 special call to be so almighty secret." 
 
 " Me neither," grumbled Sackett. " Open up, 
 Steve. You're huntin' more'n fur, an' I reckon 
 from now I'll know somethin' o' what's bein' done 
 with my money." 
 
 Danforth wheeled, his jaw thrust forward ag- 
 gressively. " Sackett," he snapped, " I've heard 
 about enough of this from you. You had your 
 chance to put some one else in charge of the nego- 
 tiations for the road but you didn't take it." 
 
 " So this here trappin' racket's got to do with the 
 road, has it ? " 
 
 "If you don't like my methods," Danforth went 
 on, paying no attention to Nelson's interruption, 
 " I'll take your interest off your hands for spot cash 
 now." 
 
 "Oh, don't get raw!" 
 
 " I'm not raw ; I'm making you a plain offer. I'm 
 sick of your growling, Sackett. You're no worse 
 off than the rest. You don't hear any of them 
 squeal. It's put up or shut up for yours. Get your 
 money back and get out or stay in and stick to your 
 agreement."
 
 TRAPPING 245 
 
 "But" 
 
 " There are no ' buts ' to it. Yes or no ? " 
 
 " Oh, cool off! I ain't findin' fault. I just want 
 to know what you was aimin' at." 
 
 " An' he ain't publishin' no newspaper about that, 
 you taller-head!" snorted Chase. "Ain't yer got 
 more sense than to lick the butter off ern yer bread ? 
 Yer make me sick ! " 
 
 Sackett, experiencing open popular displeasure for 
 about the first time, vented his feelings by spitting 
 into the stove. " No hard feelin's," he mumbled. 
 
 " No, yer bet there ain't," chuckled Chase. " I 
 hope yer choke tryin' to swaller what yer chewin'." 
 
 " You go to hell ! " flared the little storekeeper. 
 
 Haley, deciding that it was an opportune time to 
 end such talk, moved toward the door. " Reckon 
 you're warmed out enough to know yer hungry, 
 Steve," he suggested. " Come on home an' see what 
 the woman's got to eat." 
 
 " But Steve ain't told me a darned thing," pro- 
 tested Haynes. 
 
 Dan forth stopped at his side and the lines faded 
 from the tired face. " And he's not going to, 
 Dave," he said, his hand on the broad shoulder. 
 " Once I made the mistake of promising too much ; 
 the next time I talk I'll have something to say that 
 will be final one way or the other. We're all in the 
 same boat and the water's white ahead and behind
 
 246 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 and on both sides but I think I've a good grip 
 on the paddle and know where I'm going. Good 
 night." 
 
 Frost crystals were dancing with the dawn when 
 Dan forth emerged from the Haley cottage into the 
 snow-piled street, a pack slung negligently over one 
 shoulder and a pair of snow-shoes trailing from a 
 doubly-mittened hand. A thick cap, its ear-tabs 
 still alert above the crown, fitted tightly over his 
 head and a short-handled ax was thrust through the 
 belt which gathered the fleece-lined reefer about his 
 waist. Woolen trousers disappeared into grayer 
 woolen stockings which, in turn, were swallowed by 
 felt boots ending in heavier moccasins. Rufus, a 
 gray replica except for the familiar pipe, tagged 
 close at his heels. 
 
 " Snow's good," he observed when almost at 
 Sackett's. " Make time to-day." 
 
 " Got to. Hope the grub's ready." 
 
 " Will be. Fred's here." 
 
 Dan forth hurried into the store but stopped just 
 over the threshold, a grin spreading over his face. 
 " Sit there all night, Ned? " he asked. 
 
 Chase tilted his chair a little further back and be- 
 gan to tighten his belt. " Came early hopin' to get 
 a pie," he said mournfully. " The ole mink won't 
 pack nothin' but flour an' bacon." 
 
 "Go to thunder!"
 
 TRAPPING 247 
 
 " Glad to hear you're in good health, Fred." 
 Haley winked at Danforth. " Stomach any sweeter 
 this mornin' ? " 
 
 Sackett spun around, grinning shamefacedly. 
 " Doggone it ! " he roared. " Ain't I made fool 
 enough o' myself in my own way? Chase, you get 
 out o' that thar chair before I lam you with this 
 broom. Steve," he w r ent on, coming across the 
 store and laying a hand, claw-like from rheumatism, 
 on Danforth's arm, " I hope your memory's as poor 
 as your luck's goin' to be good. You know best 
 how to cure the fur your atter Yonder's your 
 grub ; get at it. It's on me." 
 
 Danforth nodded understandingly as he reached 
 for Sackett's other hand, gripped it and walked to 
 the counter. " Come on," he ordered. " You two 
 pack your share. I'm not going to tote it all." 
 
 Watching, one would have thought the proceed- 
 ing haphazard. Within ten minutes the numerous 
 packages were apportioned and the packs strapped. 
 Swinging his between his shoulders, Danforth shook 
 it into place, nodded to Sackett and started out, the 
 others in his wake. It was not until they came into 
 the street that Chase displayed his first sign of curi- 
 osity. " Don't aim to butt in whar it's none o' my 
 business," he observed, " but which way do you 
 head?" 
 
 Danforth, swinging south, called back over his
 
 248 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 shoulder : " Remember a gentleman named Ben- 
 nitt?" 
 
 " Not by that tally." 
 
 " That's part of the pelt I'm after." 
 
 " Let's hurry. Do we burn the Island camps ? " 
 
 Dan forth laughed. " It will be better than that 
 if we find what we're after," he promised. 
 
 " Glad I come." There Chase dropped the sub- 
 ject, perhaps because he was content to wait, but 
 more probably because he had enough to do in 
 watching his steps. At the crest of the hill above 
 the village they stopped as if by tacit consent. Be- 
 low and behind, the valley reached northward for 
 the International boundary, the hillsides on its either 
 edge gleaming with wind-torn snow which exag- 
 gerated the blackness of the spruce-clad mountains 
 beyond. In the foreground thin wisps of smoke rose 
 from the chimneys of the scattered houses, but even 
 the babbling of the baby river was stilled by winter's 
 death touch. " And they've ruled," muttered Dan- 
 forth as he stooped to adjust the thongs of his snow- 
 shoes, " that it's all to stay like that. It shan't." 
 
 Haley grunted approval, but Chase humped his 
 pack higher on his neck and grinned. " Good hunt- 
 in' ! " he yelled. " Hit the trail an' keep a-movin' ! " 
 With visions of a come-back at young Bennitt danc- 
 ing before him, he whistled and sang as he swung 
 along, but Haley, older in the woods, saved his
 
 TRAPPING 249 
 
 breath for his work, and Danforth appeared too en- 
 grossed in his thoughts to pay attention to Chase's 
 bubbling spirits. 
 
 After an hour or more the youngster, too, began 
 to appreciate the advisability of conserving his en- 
 ergy. He had not dreamed that a man, soft from 
 the cities, could set such a pace, and it was far from 
 his intention to be the first to call a halt. Pride in 
 his strength had no place in Haley's make-up, how- 
 ever, and several times after the second hour's un- 
 checked progress he unslung his pack and, sitting on 
 it, smoked peacefully while he rested his back and 
 legs. 
 
 It was mid-afternoon before they broke through 
 the fringe of undergrowth onto the blinding level 
 of Mirror Lake. On Idyl Island the naked birches 
 shivered against the steely West but no sound came 
 across the mile of three foot ice. " One of the 
 camps is open," hinted Chase, drawing a mitten 
 across his forehead ; " they mind that much law." 
 
 Danforth turned on him sharply. " The law says 
 the door's left open for those in need ; we're a long 
 way from needing anything from them." 
 
 " Rather be comfortable than foolish," grunted 
 Chase, " but let her go at that. Comin' night soon. 
 Which way?" 
 
 " West. I want to camp on the stream so's to 
 get an early start."
 
 250 THE ROAD TO LE KEVE 
 
 " Stop's what's interestin' me," confessed Chase. 
 " Get a move." 
 
 Making good time down the frozen lake, they fol- 
 lowed the stream until quickening water made the 
 ice precarious, then struck into the spruce, keeping 
 the river to their right until the gathering dusk 
 threatened to check them. 
 
 " Want to make another mile," Danforth called 
 back. " Can we do it, Rufe ? " 
 
 " Hadn't oughter kill ourselves first day." 
 
 " Right." He promptly swung toward the stream 
 and, coming to a fairly sheltered spot, stopped. 
 
 Haley dumped his duffle without a word, and, 
 propping his snow-shoes against a balsam, unslung 
 his axe and disappeared. Chase, equally verbose, 
 began to scout for windfalls almost before his load 
 hit the snow, while Danforth unstrapped the coffee- 
 pot and frying-pan and headed for the stream. 
 
 Before he returned, Haley had begun thatching 
 his hemlock into a lean-to and Chase had the fire 
 snapping. It was all too familiar to create even in- 
 terest and Danforth stoically went about his prepara- 
 tions for supper, content to work unquestioned. 
 Within half an hour the blankets had been spread 
 over the bed of smaller balsam boughs and the 
 three were eating like hungry dogs. As the void 
 within Chase became less insistent, however, his 
 desire to talk became greater, but the long tramp had
 
 TRAPPING 251 
 
 told on the older man's strength and on Danforth's 
 softer muscles, and, after a couple of rather unsocial 
 pipes, Haley rolled into his blankets. Ten minutes 
 later Dan forth yawned and followed suit, and Chase, 
 after hating himself for a lonesome half hour, 
 crawled in between them. " Nice social party," he 
 growled and was asleep before he could complain 
 further. 
 
 The rising sun found them once more on the 
 move, Dan forth again in the lead. Stopping now 
 and then, he examined the banks of the stream and 
 the trees on either shore, for he knew he was nearing 
 the spot where the Idylwild road, as mapped, came to 
 an end, and he wished to locate the place exactly so 
 that he might have a definite starting point for his 
 search into the suspected beyond. 
 
 But such thoroughness proved unnecessary. 
 Coming into a clearing at the edge of the stream, he 
 saw, in its center, a tripod with a red triangulation 
 flag whipping at its pole. The contour of the loca- 
 tion coincided with the map he had studied at Au- 
 gusta and he felt convinced that he had located his 
 base. Proof came almost before he reached the 
 marker. Far to the southeast, through a gap in the 
 tree-tops, he picked up a companion flag fluttering 
 from the crest of the rise above the Idyl Island land- 
 ing, and a series of scars on the spruce stretched 
 away from his tripod toward its mate until lost in
 
 252 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 the distance. The line was so straight that, involun- 
 tarily, he whirled around to pick up its projection 
 on the northern bank. " Find flags and blazes like 
 these over there," he commanded. 
 
 " I ain't interested in rags on a stick." 
 
 " You will be, Ned, before you see Le Reve 
 again." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because they happen to be the sort of fur we're 
 after." 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 Reluctantly, Danforth turned from his fruitless 
 search across the stream, and, dropping on one knee, 
 began to trace in the snow with the tip of his mit- 
 ten. " Come here, both of you," he said, " and I'll 
 explain. I wrote Sackett how the Idylwild gang 
 knocked our plan for our road to Le Reve into a 
 cocked hat. Well, that line of blazes behind us, and 
 these two flags, are additional evidence that the 
 plans they've filed for this road aren't bluff. But 
 if this road is built, even no further than here to 
 Mirror Stream, it's good-by to Le Reve and our 
 money." 
 
 " Looks like thar war goin' to be trouble ahead," 
 admitted Haley disconsolately. " Always said them 
 boys could fight. But what get's me is the foolish- 
 ness o' their buildin' a railroad into this place." 
 
 " It's what got me, too," agreed Danforth. " It's
 
 TRAPPING 253 
 
 what made me suspicious, what made me think, and 
 what made me take this last chance. Here's their 
 road." He pointed to the line from south to north 
 between his snow-shoes. " Here's its end, this 
 hole, which represents the spot we're standing on. 
 Well, while there's good spruce all round us, they 
 could drive it down Mirror Stream cheaper than 
 haul it out by rail, so this isn't a lumber road. If it 
 isn't, what is it?" 
 
 " Search me ! " said Chase. 
 
 Dan forth leaned far to the left and punched a 
 second hole in the snow. " That hole represents Ste. 
 Marie," he announced, " and Ste. Marie's the near- 
 est town on the A. & M., a road your friend Sykes 
 owns. In here, between Ste. Marie and Mirror 
 Stream, is a quarter section my father used to own 
 and which Sykes is now trying to buy on the quiet." 
 
 " Wish it on him quick," advised Chase. " It 
 ain't no good." 
 
 'Think not? I'm of the opinion it's about the 
 most valuable bit of property in this region. Sykes 
 and Bennitt are planning to continue this road from 
 here through to Ste. Marie to connect with the A. 
 & M. They need a right of way through that quar- 
 ter section." 
 
 " How do you know they do? " 
 
 " I don't ; I only suspect it. I want to confirm my 
 suspicions. If it is their plan, they've sent survey-
 
 254 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 ors through that country over there on the other 
 side of the stream to Ste. Marie and found a route. 
 If they've gone through, they've left signs like those 
 behind us." 
 
 "What if they have?" 
 
 "If they have, my suspicions become facts; and 
 I must have facts now. Find me those facts 
 flags and blazes in that wilderness over there and 
 I give you my word I'll drive a railroad into Le 
 Reve with A. P. Sykes riding on the first train. If 
 we can't find them " He broke off, and, getting 
 to his feet, squared his shoulders. " We can find 
 them," he declared. 
 
 Old Rufe rose reluctantly. " Maybe you're 
 right," he admitted. " Maybe you're right. But I 
 know Al Sykes; I've known him an' Dan Bennitt 
 years. I've camped with 'em an' cooked with 'em 
 an' slept with 'em, an' I says if they're doin' what 
 you think on the quiet, an' don't want their trail 
 knowed, they've kevered that trail so careful it don't 
 need this four foot o' snow to hide their tracks." 
 
 " Rufe's right," growled Chase. " I know the ole 
 skunk. You're chasing rainbows, Steve. Le 
 Reve's dished." 
 
 " Not by a darned sight ! There're marks over 
 there somewhere, even if we can't see them from 
 here. If they're nowhere else, they're in that quar- 
 ter section. That's the key to the whole plan, and
 
 TRAPPING 255 
 
 Sykes, in his craftiness, over-reached himself for 
 once. It's there, and you're going to help me find it, 
 Chase." 
 
 " You're loony! Come on home." 
 
 f< If you want to quit, quit now ! " 
 
 "Hold up!" commanded Rufe. "Ned ain't 
 goin' back to Le Reve yet, neither am I. You're 
 sorter f orgettin' we ain't nothin' but back-woodscnen 
 an' a red flag on a stick or a white gash on a spruce 
 ain't railroad tracks to us. Howsoever, that ain't 
 your fault. But don't you forget that we come so 
 far without askin' no questions. It ain't railroads 
 or cash that leads folks into this sort o' trip, son, but 
 a kinder feelin' that if a friend needs help we. ain't 
 the men to say ' Go somewhar else an' ask it.' ' 
 
 Danforth's glance did not waver as their eyes met 
 but the color heightened in his already flushed face. 
 " Ned's right," he sajd; " I'm crazy. I'd no call to 
 lose my head." 
 
 "Forget it!" said Chase uncomfortably. 
 
 " What do you two advise ? " 
 
 " We ain't here to advise. What's your orders ? " 
 
 " Let me get this layout straight in my head first. 
 Is there a stream on the far side of that range off to 
 the west?" 
 
 " Guess so ; ain't ever been to Ste. Marie." 
 
 " What's the lay to the east say two miles to 
 our right and for fifteen or twenty miles beyond ? "
 
 256 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 " Beaver an ' Round Ponds," answered Chase. 
 " Swamp and tamarack all round 'em. Take a 
 duck to get through an' he'd have to fly over 
 'em." 
 
 " Then their line must run fairly straight north," 
 mused Danforth. " It must cut my old land and 
 then swing sharply west. Hold on. I've got to 
 map this as we go ahead." He took a note book 
 from an inside pocket and began to sketch. Chase 
 peered over his shoulder but Haley moved on to test 
 the ice for the crossing. 
 
 Finally Danforth put up his book, consulted his 
 compass, and, nodding as if satisfied, started after 
 Haley. As the three climbed the northern bank of 
 Mirror Stream he put a hand on Chase's shoulder. 
 " Ned," he said, " you work to the east and Rufe'll 
 go west while I stick in between. Every half hour 
 work back until we come within shouting distance. 
 And while you're going keep your eyes open. If 
 either of you find so much as a strange scratch on a 
 tree, stay with it and yell till I come to you." 
 
 " Coin's goin' to be hard," announced Chase, " but 
 I'm on my way. Oughter have brought your moose 
 call, Rufe. So long!"
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 
 
 As he began his lonesome tramp, Danforth carried 
 the conviction that neither of his comrades shared 
 his faith but were going on merely through loyalty 
 to him. But he was also certain that neither would 
 miss any track which the Sykes surveyors had left. 
 Yet when they came together again at dusk none had 
 discovered any tangible evidence, and his sole con- 
 solation was that he had mapped a route across the 
 country traversed which was as practical as it was 
 plausible. 
 
 The next day bore equally bitter fruit and on the 
 third came the snow great blotchy flakes which 
 were soon whipped into stinging crystals by the 
 drive of the rising gale. Until noon Danforth 
 drove on, but then the thickening curtain and Rufe's 
 slowing steps made a halt imperative. Although 
 time was precious, it was no day to take chances with 
 life itself. 
 
 At the hour when he had counted upon being 
 well into Little Stephen's quarter section he sat 
 hunched under the whitening lean-to, his eyes fixed 
 
 257
 
 258 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 on the wind-tossed camp fire, re-weighing his lessen- 
 ing chances of success. Hope had been high on the 
 previous day when, ten miles north of Mirror 
 Stream, a gap in the secondary ridge, which crossed 
 their course, had shouted aloud for a minute search. 
 But even though this second hunt had been fruit- 
 less he was thoroughly convinced that no engineer, 
 who had Ste. Marie for an object, would neglect 
 this natural cut, and therefore he had accepted it as 
 a second base. 
 
 But the ground since investigated had been so 
 featureless he had come to an early realization that 
 it was essential to locate a third point which would 
 be joined to this gap by the shortest line, and this 
 third point, he now believed, because of his deduc- 
 tions based both upon topography and estimates of 
 Alonzo Sykes's methods, lay somewhere within that 
 quarter section Sykes had attempted to steal from 
 Millie Williams. 
 
 He awoke the next morning to peer into the 
 ghostly reaches of cathedral spruce fading into an 
 eddying near-distance and as the dull hours wore 
 on, the nervous tension began to show in his im- 
 patient movements. Time was becoming danger- 
 ously short. Knight would be in Quebec in two 
 days, and Knight was not a man to linger for one 
 who failed to keep an appointment. 
 
 Half way through the morning the strain became
 
 intolerable. " I'm going ahead," he declared ab- 
 ruptly. " I've got to be in Ste. Marie to-morrow 
 night. I've got to know before then." 
 
 " Don't be a fool," snapped Chase. " We can't 
 see anything if we could get anywhere." 
 
 " We can't see anything here." 
 
 " We can't get bogged in a drift here and freeze 
 to death." 
 
 " I've been in the woods before." 
 
 " So've I. I ain't havin' no special picnic now, 
 but damned if I'm goin' to turn what I have got 
 into a funeral. Sit down and wait out the snow." 
 
 " Can't risk it. Will you try it with me, Rufe? " 
 
 " No," retorted Chase, " he won't, an' you ain't 
 got no right to ask him." 
 
 Rufe stared at the angry youngster. " S'posin' 
 you let Rufe talk for Rufe," he suggested. " Steve's 
 riskin' what he's got for Le Reve; I'm as game." 
 
 " 'Tain't no question of gameness ; it's plain dam- 
 foolishness." 
 
 Haley rose without deigning to reply, but, as he 
 fastened the thongs of his snow-shoes, he glanced 
 up. " Don't take that pack, Steve," he cautioned. 
 " We got to travel light an' we got to get back here 
 by night. We can't make camp in this storm." 
 
 " I don't want to waste time." 
 
 " I'm older, you listen to me in this." 
 
 " Umph ! " exploded the thoroughly disgusted
 
 260 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Chase. " He won't listen to no one but Steve Dan- 
 forth." 
 
 Controlling his rising temper, Danforth turned to 
 Haley. " Just as you wish," he consented. " And, 
 Rufe, don't think I don't appreciate this." 
 
 The old man merely mumbled as he tightened the 
 last- knot. " Ready," he said. " We'll work due 
 north 'til two o'clock, then turn back. Have some- 
 thin' hot waitin' 'bout sun-down, Ned." 
 
 " Sure ! But you won't be here to eat it." 
 
 They departed with this cheerful prophecy ring- 
 ing in their ears. Yet as the afternoon wore on 
 and the storm increased and still they did not return, 
 Chase became more and more uneasy, and, finally, 
 his anxiety overcoming his temper, he seized an ax 
 and started northward, blazing his course as he 
 went. 
 
 It was equally characteristic in him to increase 
 his labor by an occasional zig-zag in search of the 
 always expected signs. Two or three times he was 
 obliged to turn his back to the northeast wind in 
 order to catch his breath, but before he had covered 
 half a mile he saw two dim figures struggling to- 
 wards him as if through blinding white draperies. 
 
 " Find anythin' ? " he shouted above the scream 
 of the wind. 
 
 Danforth shook his head, but something in the 
 motion made Chase glance more keenly at Haley,
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 261 
 
 only to become assured that the old man was on the 
 verge of exhaustion, and, without a word, he 
 wheeled and began to break the back trail. 
 
 Even when they reached the lean-to Danforth had 
 little to say. But at last he turned to Chase. " You 
 were more than right," he acknowledged. " But I 
 felt I had to make the effort. We found noth- 
 ing." 
 
 " Tough luck." 
 
 " All of that. Is this going to let up? " 
 
 " Don't look it. Usually run out the third day 
 these nor'east birds." 
 
 " It's got to stop. I've got to be in Ste. Marie 
 to-morrow night with the goods." 
 
 " You can't make it." 
 
 " It isn't a question of can or can't." 
 
 " No, you bet it ain't; it's a matter o' snow." 
 
 " I'll be O. K. in the mornin'," mumbled Rufe. 
 " We'll make it." 
 
 Chase, looking at Danforth, started to speak, but 
 the other's expression made him choke back the 
 words. " I' gotta keep up the fire," he exploded. 
 " You two turn in. We'll let to-morrow settle her- 
 self." 
 
 With that, they dropped it. But although fagged 
 to the limit, throughout the night they were con- 
 scious of Haley's painful efforts to straighten his 
 cramp-racked legs, and both knew what it meant.
 
 262 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Yet the dawn found the game old man busy over 
 the fire. Danforth, joining him, pushed him aside 
 and began to cook. The bite of the snow-ladened 
 wind struck through to his marrow and he shivered 
 in spite of the growing waves of heat. Before the 
 coffee was done, Chase came out with a grunted, 
 " Hell of a day! " and slid a handful of salt pork 
 into the pan. 
 
 " Not as bad as it was," Danforth responded 
 cheerfully. " It's going to clear." 
 
 " Sure 'bout to-morrow. Get that coffee 
 goin'; the old man needs his'n." 
 
 "How far's Ste. Marie?" 
 
 " Maybe fifteen mile." 
 
 " I'm going in." 
 
 Chase glanced at him disgustedly and then spit 
 into the fire. " Ain't no use talkin' to you," he 
 growled. 
 
 " Fve got to be in Quebec to-morrow." 
 
 " You won't be. You won't be nowhere but stuck 
 somewhere. You ain't got the strength to make it. 
 But go ahead, don't let me keep you. I'm done." 
 
 " You'll stay with Rufe till you can get back to 
 Le Reve together? " 
 
 " I ain't skunk enough to leave him here." 
 
 Danforth dismissed the slur with a shrug, and, 
 picking up the coffee-pot, carried it to Rufe. " Here 
 you are," he said with a smile. " Rufe, this storm's
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 263 
 
 going to break and I'm going to break for Ste. 
 Marie with it. I can get through, and maybe I'll 
 be able to find what we've been after on the way. 
 If I can't, I'll have to do the best I can with the 
 map I've made and with my powers of persuasion." 
 
 The old man looked up, his eyes heavy with dis- 
 appointment. " It's the only thing for you to do," 
 he agreed ; " the only thing. Wish I could go too, 
 boy, but I couldn't last. Take Ned." 
 
 "Take Ned nothin'!" yelled Chase. "I ain't 
 cracked." 
 
 " That's all settled," said Danforth quietly, " he 
 stays. Rufe, I'm going to work due north until I 
 hit a gap in the big ridge, then cross and follow the 
 river down to Ste. Marie. There must be such a 
 gap ahead. And if I don't get through to-night 
 I'll be back here by to-morrow afternoon. Don't 
 wait after that." 
 
 Something in his tone told Chase that the matter 
 was closed and he allowed him to swallow his break- 
 fast in peace. But as soon as he had finished 
 Stephen rose, shouldered his pack, put on his snow- 
 shoes, and with a cheery " Good-by, boys," plowed 
 around the corner of the lean-to into the trackless 
 waste. 
 
 He swung to the west of the course taken the day 
 before, hoping to find some sign along the unex- 
 plored line. Twice within the first two miles he
 
 264 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 tripped on hidden windfalls and was thrown heavily 
 but fought ahead, teeth set, body braced into the 
 wind. By nine o'clock he knew he must be nearing 
 his old quarter section and began to appreciate that 
 the storm was slackening yet did not dare travel in 
 his usual zig-zags lest he should squander both time 
 and strength. But the lift of the blizzard permitted 
 a more inclusive vision, and, in spite of the heavy 
 footing, his spirits rose. 
 
 Although, at the end of an hour, he had picked 
 up none of the old boundary marks he knew he must 
 be well through what had once been his. If the 
 Sykes crowd had run their line here their only prob- 
 lem had been to select the shortest route. For, as 
 in the country behind him, there was no serious ob- 
 stacle to easy construction. It was a grave disap- 
 pointment, yet he tried to offset it with the thought 
 that ahead he would locate that necessary third point. 
 He must find it for, without evidence to support his 
 claims, he appreciated how skeptical Knight would 
 be, and, for the first time, began to dread the in- 
 terview. 
 
 But hope revived again as the contour of the coun- 
 try became more uneven, yet, climbing one of the 
 gentle ridges, he found himself on the edge of a 
 little glade. Below, bare alders stood like tomb- 
 stones above a brook, but beyond, instead of the 
 serried spruce, glowered an impenetrable tangle of
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 265 
 
 slash feathered with thickets of second growth. 
 
 As if to mock him the sun burst through the 
 scud, and diamonds flashed and sparkled the length 
 of the shallow valley. For an instant dread was 
 banished by the beauty of it all, and the thought 
 came of how it would appeal to the soul of Betty 
 Norton, and, as he forced his way into the crackling 
 alders, he wondered if she was still at Wentworth 
 House. The frozen brook tempted him, and, hack- 
 ing a hole in the ice, he stooped to drink, and then, 
 appreciating his hunger, he slipped his pack and, 
 sitting on it, began to munch bread and cold bacon. 
 
 But now the girl began to assume the form of 
 a more real dream. At first he saw her among the 
 gay throng about the Wentworth table a table 
 glittering with glass and silver which reflected the 
 sparkle of the conversation. But, then, growing 
 more selfish, he decided to steal her away from her 
 friends and whirl her to this little nook beneath the 
 alders, and a tender smile came over his drawn face 
 as he pictured her biting daintily at the hunk of 
 bread in his coarse mitten or nibbling at the meat he 
 gulped so greedily. 
 
 He knew she would laugh if she could know how 
 hungry nature had thrust romance aside, yet he was 
 equally sure she would understand and sympathize 
 and would stoutly affirm that of all the places she 
 could choose in which to be alone with him some
 
 266 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 famous restaurant would be the one. Soft lights 
 would glow on the intimate table across which they 
 faced each other and he could see her leaning fur- 
 ther toward him, the menu clasped in both little 
 hands, her brown eyes approving as he ordered the 
 things he knew she would like best long, salty 
 oysters, a clear soup, in which the turtle was not 
 calf, a fish served with a sauce a Chinese cook on 
 the other coast had confided to him, and then thick, 
 red fillets. 
 
 He smiled, the crust poised half way to his lips. 
 Fillets were absurd ! Yet she would appreciate how 
 hungry he was and soberly insist upon double por- 
 tions. And then would come . The sun went be- 
 hind a cloud, and, with a queer, short laugh, he rose 
 stiffly to face reality. 
 
 Not daring to force a fight with the matted slash, 
 he turned westward on the chance of finding a log- 
 ging road, but knowing that if he failed his pre- 
 dicament would be grave. He found the opening 
 he had hoped, but it turned out to be only a cul-de- 
 sac, and he was forced to waste precious time in re- 
 tracing his steps, acting under the theory that if he 
 could discover an easier egress he would more than 
 make up the lost half hour. Yet when once more 
 back on the barrier's edge he saw that he was too 
 close to the ridge to hope to find any trace of the 
 survey, so, rejecting the temptation to choose the
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 267 
 
 easier course, he once more swung eastward at a 
 quickened pace. 
 
 He had covered nearly a mile before he noticed 
 a second opening, and turning in, determined to 
 follow this as far as possible, and then, if he must, 
 begin a battle with the slash. He knew what this 
 meant, and already was coming to acknowledge that 
 there was just ground for Chase's taunt as to the 
 limitations of his strength. There was no denying 
 that the long tramp had told on him, and, added to 
 the knowledge that ahead still lay an unknown coun- 
 try, came the disturbing vision of black clouds, once 
 more piling high to the Northeast. 
 
 The going was atrocious. Too wise in the ways 
 of the woods to clamber over what he could creep 
 around, his course lengthened and twice he lost the 
 trail completely. His knees ached and his back 
 begged him to cache his pack but doggedly he kept 
 to his work, determined to win through. 
 
 Once he suspected a yellow gash on a distant 
 spruce, but it was so far from his course and so 
 hedged in by young second growth and half-buried 
 tops that he did not dare investigate, yet his con- 
 science demanded some excuse for his laxness and 
 he found it in the thought that if the scar did mark 
 a line the ridge now crowding in upon his left would 
 force his course to the east until it converged with 
 that line.
 
 268 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Before long, however, the footing became such 
 that it was necessary to concentrate his entire atten- 
 tion upon the trail, and only dimly did his weary- 
 ing brain begin to comprehend the possible bearing 
 of this ridge upon his fruitless search. It barred 
 him from the west. If he could find a gap before 
 he came abreast of Ste. Marie that gap would be the 
 logical outlet of the suspected Sykes road and the 
 missing point on which he hoped to hang his argu- 
 ment to Knight, should he fail to discover the actual 
 evidence of a survey. 
 
 Again he caught the gleam of white wood to his 
 right. This time the scarred trunk was more ac- 
 cessible and unhesitatingly he wheeled. Ten steps 
 and the bow of his left snow-shoe slid across the 
 sharp point of a buried stub, caught, hung, creaked, 
 cracked, then broke and threw him headlong. 
 
 The jar of the fall stunned him, but then slowly 
 he began to right himself, all too certain of what 
 his carelessness meant. A stronger gust, bitter 
 with the forerunners of the returning storm, swirled 
 through the spruce, jeeringly triumphant. His 
 strained nerves snapped, and his cracked lips curled 
 back like those of a wild thing at bay, and he snarled 
 as if defying the wilderness as his fist crashed against 
 the stub which typified all the forces aligned against 
 him. 
 
 Savagely he struck again and again as unconscious
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 269 
 
 of the pain as he was of the fact that his vitality 
 had ebbed until there was little in reserve. Vi- 
 ciously he kicked at the useless shoe as his wild eyes 
 sought other outlets for his rage. The scar on the 
 spruce which had lured him to defeat checked his 
 aimless gaze, and, with an oath, he leaped towards 
 it, floundering, falling, picking himself up, only to 
 go down again, intent only on reaching it as if it 
 were some living, sneering enemy. 
 
 Gasping for breath and dripping in every pore he 
 reached it, his anger spent, but now the oblong gash 
 fascinated him. It might mean anything, a lumber 
 jack's death sentence to the tree, the careless test 
 stroke of a newly sharpened ax, or the trap line 
 blaze of some fur hunter from Ste. Marie. Staring 
 at it curiously, he raised a mitten and idly brushed 
 away the film of snow but no cabalistic mark of a 
 surveyor emerged and he began to curse himself 
 anew for allowing anything to alter his decision to 
 make Ste. Marie by the straightest path and trust the 
 rest to Knight's acumen. 
 
 For the first time in his life the wilderness silence 
 became repellent and he longed for companionship, 
 for some one to share his bitterness, for some one 
 to condone the foolishness of this side venture after 
 a will-o'-the-wisp. The desperateness of his pre- 
 dicament seemed not to have occurred to him, but, 
 if it had, it was merely with the thought that some-
 
 270 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 how he could get out. The thing which was pound- 
 ing and pounding on his brain was that Le Reve was 
 doomed and with it was buried his reputation and 
 all his hopes. 
 
 Once more his eyes swept the wilderness. Some- 
 thing to his left caught his attention. He stiffened, 
 his head thrust forward, his fists clinched. Fifty 
 yards to the south winked another blaze. As if 
 doubting his sight, he kept his eyes on it as he felt 
 for the first, then fearfully, dreadingly, he turned 
 to follow the projection of their line northward. 
 
 His arm clutched the spruce and his lips worked 
 silently as he stared at the tiny fleck of red on the 
 crest of the ridge he had skirted. In a flash the 
 whole situation became clear. Caught by the first 
 of winter's storms, the Idylwild surveyors had fled 
 the woods, and, in their haste, had neglected to de- 
 stroy the northern portion of their line marks. 
 There, in that long triangulation flag on the hill 
 which must look down on the cut to Ste. Marie, was 
 his proof, but then came sickening remembrance. 
 It was of no avail to a man foundered in the wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 All that had occurred within the past months 
 reeled before his eyes with a minuteness which comes 
 to a man sinking in deep water for the third time 
 Le Reve, its farms touched with the harvest 
 colors; the men gathered at Sackett's to re-assert
 
 BROKEN IN* STRENGTH AND SPIRIT, HE LEANED AGAINST 
 THE SPRUCE "
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 271 
 
 their trust in him; the group about Bennitt's table; 
 Mittendorf, cold and equally bloodless; and then a 
 vision of a brown-eyed girl, whose faith had never 
 wavered. And now, when all he had worked for 
 was within his grasp, he must fail ; fail because the 
 wilderness which had given him life had trapped 
 him. 
 
 Broken in strength and spirit, he leaned against 
 the spruce, the useless snow-shoe dangling from his 
 numbed fingers. Too fagged even to think coher- 
 ently, the chill stole into his overheated body, his 
 chin sank low into his collar and the drifting snow 
 whitened his heaving shoulders. It was character- 
 istic that he gave no thought to that which reached 
 for him from the still, cold emptiness. Le Reve 
 would take his disappearance stoically, and the world 
 outside would not record the disappearance of one 
 more failure. 
 
 Dully, at first, then with increasing waves of 
 agony, he began to grasp all that it would mean to 
 Le Reve if the wilderness conquered him. Slowly 
 his body stiffened, and the cracked lips in the ashen 
 face became more firm, then, with head thrown 
 back, he began to fight the waist-deep snow. 
 
 Fifty yards of madness and his sanity re-asserted 
 itself. He knew that long before he could win 
 through to Ste. Marie he would fall for the last 
 time, and, with a final effort, he lunged into the
 
 272 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 shelter of a clump of stunted cedar where, at least, 
 he could gasp back his breath. He knew now that 
 all hope of meeting Knight, in the morning at 
 Quebec, had gone, and knew equally well how slight 
 was his own chance of coming through to Ste. 
 Marie alive. Yet the whole indomitable courage 
 of the man insisted that he make the attempt. He 
 had risked his life for others before; now he must 
 save it for Le Reve. 
 
 At first the hope of being able to patch the broken 
 shoe encouraged him, but the roughly whittled splint 
 collapsed within twenty yards and increased the 
 wreck. His mind became clear with that brilliancy 
 that presages the end. Expedient after expedient 
 was dismissed with lightning-like rapidity. Here 
 the tricks he had learned in the Northwest were of 
 no avail, and his thoughts rushed back to the time 
 when he was again of the wilderness and had frol- 
 icked the drifts of Le Reve. He stiffened. Grab- 
 bing his ax he slashed a dozen boughs from a cedar, 
 examined them, discarded all but -two, then, slicing 
 his belt into thongs, he bound a mat of branches to 
 his foot. 
 
 The result was clumsy, but as he cautiously in- 
 creased his weight on the matted web of interlacing 
 green, he believed it would hold. When it gave out 
 another tree would offer replacement, that was if 
 his strength outlasted the makeshift. Then, with his
 
 SECRETS OF THE SPRUCE 273 
 
 eyes fixed upon the fleck of red which fluttered on 
 the ridge, he began to creep towards the suspected 
 gap, sinking, stumbling, falling, only to pick him- 
 self up again and again and lunge on into the gather- 
 ing dusk unconscious now of everything except 
 that a man who had fought so long could fight still 
 more.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A CONFERENCE 
 
 THE station agent at Ste. Marie re-lit the butt of 
 his pipe, looked at his tin clock and decided that it 
 was somewhere around nine and time to take a 
 drink. Also he took umbrage at the regulation 
 which kept him on duty until the ten-sixteen bumped 
 south. Down the line at Bon Adventure Pierre La 
 Fitte took up the serial of his latest conquest in ex- 
 cited dots and dashes but Monsieur Louis glanced 
 disdainfully at the spluttering sounder. 
 
 " By gar ! " he ejaculated. " Pierre, she mak' me 
 seek!" 
 
 The door of the waiting-room crashed open. It 
 was echoed by the slam of the ticket wicket. The 
 little agent's black eyes were wide and his scalp 
 prickled beneath its coat of bear's grease. Never 
 had vision been so terrifying! He snatched a re- 
 volver from his cash drawer and rattled it on the 
 safe side of the window-sill, hoping to intimidate the 
 haggard, snow-crusted specter which had burst in 
 on his peace. 
 
 The sound of moccasined feet padding across the 
 rough boards, followed by the thump of a mittened 
 
 274
 
 A CONFERENCE 275 
 
 fist against the window panel, almost made him sink 
 his front teeth in his heart. " Que voul 3 vous? }> 
 he squealed. 
 
 " Open this window ! " 
 
 "Mais, non. De hour she 'ave not arrive. 
 Allez! " 
 
 " Open that window, I tell you ! " 
 
 The wicket rose enough to permit the muzzle of 
 a gun to appear in the crack. " De cafe he ees 
 acros' de street. Encore, allez! " 
 
 The revolver was swept contemptuously aside, a 
 hand took its place and the wicket dashed upward. 
 " What time can I get a train to Quebec ? " 
 
 Monsieur Beauchamps dawned above his protec- 
 tive horizon and frowned majestically into the lined 
 face pressed against the opposite side of the bars. 
 It became apparent that he had nothing more to in- 
 timidate than a half -starved voyageur. " De train 
 to-day he 'ave depart," he stated majestically. " To- 
 morrow he shall depart at sept heures, provid' le 
 bon Dieu she are merciful with hees snows. Know- 
 ing which, vamoos ! " 
 
 " I've got to be in Quebec in the morning." 
 
 " Et ees a long walk," murmured Louis Beau- 
 champs, raising his hand to the wicket. "Bon 
 soir" 
 
 Danforth's fist shot through the protecting bars 
 and closed on a slender wrist. The blood of the
 
 276 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 Beauchamps turned, not to water, but to ice. The 
 revolver clattered to the floor. " M'sieu! " 
 
 " If there's no passenger, there's a freight. What 
 time's it go north ? " 
 
 "A douse heures." 
 
 " I'll jump that." 
 
 " Et ees not permit." 
 
 " Tough luck ! What time's it scheduled to reach 
 Quebec?" 
 
 "A trois heures apres midi." 
 
 "The devil!" 
 
 " Maybe de snow mak' heem mouch late." 
 
 Danforth thought rapidly. " Give me a telegraph 
 blank," he commanded, " then cut in on that drivel 
 and send a regular message." 
 
 Beauchamps' lips parted. " Es et," he mur- 
 mured ; " es et dat M'sieu are de new inspector dat 
 he onderstan' de code ? " 
 
 "Oh, buck up! I'm no spotter. If you can't 
 send, I'll do it for you. I used to be a railroader." 
 
 " Mon frere! Why 'ave you not tole me?" 
 
 " Guess I'd forgotten it," he mumbled, his stiff- 
 ened fingers finding difficulty with the pencil. 
 " Here, which one of us pounds the key ? " 
 
 The little agent reached for the paper, read it with 
 widening eyes and an entirely new expression came 
 over his face. " I, moi," he answered respectfully. 
 " Tout le monde she 'ave de great respec' for M'sieu
 
 A CONFERENCE 277 
 
 Knight." He started for his key, turned, threw 
 open his door and bowed humbly. " Enter, 
 M'sieu," he begged. " On de instant I begin to 
 send." 
 
 For two or three minutes he ticked with the care- 
 ful deliberateness of one who handles dynamite, and 
 when, at last, he finished, he turned in triumph, but, 
 to his amazement, his mysterious guest was crumpled 
 up in the chair by the stove and his deep, regular 
 breathing told the story. Twice he tried to awaken 
 him but merely succeeded in evoking a series of 
 grunted imprecations, so sat down at his instfument 
 to inform the line of the great man who was his 
 honored guest. 
 
 Even when the north-bound freight rumbled in, 
 Louis had to kick him into consciousness, and at that 
 Danforth but dimly comprehended that the excited 
 little agent was telling the conductor a fairy story 
 which made that hardened brother's face grow se- 
 rious as he escorted him to the caboose and then went 
 forward to have a word with his engineer. It was 
 while this conference was in progress that Louis 
 Beauchamps sidled crablike up to the bunk. 
 " M'sieu," he whispered, " for a f rien' we do mouch. 
 An', M'sieu," he added intensely, " at Rivere du- 
 Lac your good frien', M'sieu Knight, may some day 
 desire one new agent. At Rivere du Lac reside 
 a ver' beautiful girl, M'sieu. She, aussi, is de
 
 278 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 frien' of your frien' Louis Beauchamps. De 
 freight train will mak' de connect' with de passen- 
 ger to Quebec at de beeg junction. M'sieu, de con- 
 ducteur she are de frien' of us each. Bon soir, 
 M'sieu et bon voyage." 
 
 It was the middle of the morning when Dan- 
 forth crossed the great river into the old fortress 
 town. Beauchamps' words had been as magic, for 
 the freight had run headlong, and their connection 
 one which, had he been normal, he would have mar- 
 veled at, but now he was thinking ahead instead 
 of in retrospect. In spite of his outlandish clothes 
 he passed the outer sentries of the Trans-Dominion's 
 divisional offices without challenge, for there was 
 something about his bearing which warned the 
 doorkeepers to let him alone. But when he entered 
 the ante-room of the vice-presidential suite, the au- 
 tocrat in charge stuck a pencil into the base of her 
 pompadour, sniffed a second time and cuttingly sug- 
 gested that the yard-master's office was on the floor 
 below. 
 
 " I'll remember that, if the Old Man throws me 
 out," he said good humoredly. " Please ask him, 
 however, if he'll see Mr. Danforth now." 
 
 She took a third look and decided that there was 
 no false confidence in his eyes, and that if he har- 
 vested the five days' growth of beard a handsome 
 face would doubtless be laid bare. Crinkling a
 
 A CONFERENCE 279 
 
 blond curl into a more fascinating corkscrew, she 
 raised her eyebrows and tested a late February 
 smile. " What is your business? " she asked. 
 
 " Won't my work on the Northwestern division 
 serve as credentials?" 
 
 " Ah! Are you Mr. Stephen Danforth? " 
 
 " I used to be." 
 
 As she rose she was conscious of deep regrets 
 that office regulations prohibited pink bows on the 
 frilled apron which protected her skirt but made up 
 for the deficiency by moving the smile along to 
 early June. "If you'll excuse me a moment," she 
 simpered, " I'll tell Mr. Knight you're waiting." 
 
 Much to her disgust, Knight came back at her 
 heels; tall, massive, perfectly groomed-. His face 
 was that of a man who had succeeded by sheer force 
 of character, the eyes deep-set and keen, alive to 
 everything, but telling no secrets as to what was 
 going on in the big brain behind them, the chin 
 aggressive, the mouth large and positive and the 
 nostrils sensitive. "Hello, Danforth!" he said 
 crisply. " Glad to see you again. If you can clear 
 your mind in twenty minutes, come in; if you can't, 
 put it on paper and I'll go over it later. I'm busy." 
 
 Danforth gripped the hand of his old chief. 
 " Haven't time to write," he retorted, " but I'll try 
 to give you an interesting twenty minutes." 
 
 Knight grunted and turned on his heel. " Get
 
 280 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 at it," he advised, leading the way into his office. 
 "Have a cigar? If you've been in the open as 
 long as you look, you can stand these." 
 
 Dan forth, in spite of his anxiety, smiled as he 
 deliberately pushed the box across the table. 
 Knight's cigars were justly famous. Even diamond 
 drill men had not the stamina to test them a sec- 
 ond time. "Ever hear of A. P. Sykes?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " Don't waste your time with unpleasant ques- 
 tions, son. Get down to things I can put my fin- 
 gers on." 
 
 "All right." He threw off his reefer, tossed it 
 on a chair and leaned across the table. " Knight," 
 he announced, " I'm going to make you a present 
 of a skunk's skin to nail on your barn door. I've 
 unearthed the prettiest little railroad plot ever 
 hatched and it's all counter-mined and ready to be 
 touched off." 
 
 " You've wasted three minutes on glittering gen- 
 eralities, Steve. Produce the pelt." 
 
 Dan forth, both hands resting on the edge of the 
 table, began to outline his plans for the Le Reve 
 road, but at a grunt, which informed him it was 
 old news, he plunged into the details of the Sykes- 
 Bennitt venture. Apparently Knight's mind was 
 wandering, for his eyes became fixed on the oppo- 
 site wall and his face showed no interest. Dan forth,
 
 A CONFERENCE 281 
 
 controlling his desire to speak louder, kept on 
 evenly, his statements crisp and to the point. At 
 the end of fifteen minutes he stopped abruptly. 
 
 " That's their plan, as I see it," he added. " I've 
 a rough map of the country I've crossed." 
 
 Knight groped for a fresh cigar and bit off its 
 end. " What use is it in your pocket ? " he growled. 
 " Wait a minute first." He punched a button set 
 into the edge of his desk and when no one had an- 
 swered it after five seconds, he jabbed a thumb on 
 it and held it there until a stenographer dashed in. 
 " Call up the yards," he snapped. " Tell 'em to 
 hold my car. Probably run special. Get the maps 
 of the eastern division, the A. & M. and the Sykes 
 systems." 
 
 Before the door had closed, he had risen and one 
 big arm swept his table clean. " Stephen, my son," 
 he said with a grin, " you interest me much. We'll 
 check all this up and then consider devious methods 
 for properly tanning that skunk skin." 
 
 It was early afternoon when the now very curi- 
 ous Lady of the Outer Office was summoned. Ven- 
 turing to disobey just long enough to glance at her 
 pompadour in a small mirror she kept hidden for 
 such emergencies, she entered the inner office in 
 her most dignified manner. Evidently her arrival 
 did not affect Knight, who was firing orders into 
 his telephone. Slamming up the receiver, he turned
 
 282 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 on her. " Take telegrams. ' B. K. Langley, Mon- 
 treal/ What's the matter? " 
 
 " It's " she choked, " it's a bit stuffy here, sir." 
 
 " Open a window, Steve." 
 
 Danforth rose and an amused smile came over 
 his face as, for the first time, he took in the condi- 
 tion of the room. Blue with smoke, floor littered 
 with papers, desk and table buried in maps, it was 
 certainly proof that the two coatless men had been 
 thinking of nothing but their work. " Wondered 
 what made you keep the place so hot," he said. 
 
 " ' B. K. Langley, Montreal,' repeated Knight. 
 " ' Meet me office to-morrow ten A. M. Western 
 trip postponed.' Signed. Repeat same to Hollo- 
 way, Bruce and Sir James. 'S'all." 
 
 She hurried out, wondering if a general strike 
 threatened to tie up the system, or what other crisis 
 had arisen to warrant such peremptory summoning 
 of the powers who ruled the Trans-Dominion. 
 Twenty minutes later her wonderment turned to real 
 fear, for Knight, coming out of his room, his sable- 
 lined coat over his arm and a fresh cigar in his 
 mouth, linked his other arm through Stephen Dan- 
 forth's reefer-covered elbow as he passed. 
 
 "Tell every one I've gone to Halifax," he said 
 over his shoulder. " Forward important tele- 
 grams. I'll be in Montreal the rest of the week. 
 Good-by."
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 A MAN'S WORD 
 
 IN spite of the Gehrings' insistence, Miss Nor- 
 ton stayed on at Wentworth House, and with her, 
 for a reason she supposed none but she herself 
 knew, remained little Natalie Gray. Mittendorf, 
 although he had done his best to break away from 
 the city, found the market too precarious to leave 
 even though the best duck shooting on Curritick 
 was his for the trip. Yet business was not such 
 a hard master that it prohibited his running out 
 to Wentworth House for dinner at least every other 
 night. His sudden liking for the owner of the big 
 estate, while heartily returned, at least caused his 
 not-over dull host and hostess much amusement. 
 For a girl who had stood half New York on its head, 
 Miss Gray, in her present anxious state of mind, 
 was a perfect target for their humor. 
 
 Miss Norton found herself playing the role of 
 double confidante, and it suited her mood to per- 
 fection. Little Natalie had always been one of 
 her closest intimates, and now, as she came to know 
 
 Mittendorf both through the girl's enthusiasms and 
 
 283
 
 284 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 his own awkward questions and confessions, she 
 came more and more to appreciate that he was a 
 good deal of a man down under the coating of 
 Wall Street ethics with which he had mistakenly 
 chosen to daub himself and which now he was do- 
 ing his uttermost to rub off out of justice both to 
 himself and this miniature bit of tantalization he was 
 so desperately afraid of. 
 
 Nor was Natalie Gray the only one to open her 
 heart at the midnight tete-a-tetes before the open 
 fire. She knew the story of Danforth's venture 
 into the wilderness and did her loyal best to grasp 
 its possibilities, but always she reverted to that spec- 
 ter lurking in the shadows, her Uncle Alonzo. 
 Once Natalie, her blue eyes big with generous de- 
 termination, had announced that she was going to 
 New York to beard the lion in his den, confident that 
 she could exert some sort of influence in spite of 
 her cordial dislike of her relative. 
 
 While Miss Norton promptly forbade even the 
 dropping of a well-meant hint, the offer brought 
 into focus an idea which had more than once been 
 in her mind, and Jimmie Wentworth, having to 
 motor into the city the next morning, found an 
 eager volunteer to accompany him. 
 
 John Norton, although titular head of a great 
 trust company, had long since ceased to use its offices 
 for more than a center to which ran the threads of
 
 A MAN'S WORD 285 
 
 many enterprises. Probably twice during the hours 
 he spent there each morning some institutional ques- 
 tion came to his court of last resort but the rest of 
 the time was put in over his secretary's winnow- 
 ings from the mails and in conferences arranged 
 days in advance by a little, stoop-shouldered, clear- 
 eyed man whose position was without title but 
 whose favor was curried by men who juggled for- 
 tunes. 
 
 From her babyhood this same soft-footed Thomas 
 MacGregor had been Betty Norton's loyal and de- 
 voted slave, and her visits to the office red letter- 
 days in an existence which had become drab 
 through familiarity. So, on this morning when he 
 saw her come hurrying through the door, his parch- 
 ment like face fairly crackled as he trotted to the 
 bronze boundaries. 
 
 " 'Lo, Tommy ! " she called, her eyes dancing. 
 " Discovered any new first editions ? " 
 
 "Not one," he confessed; "not a single one. 
 And how's Miss Betty this morning and what brings 
 her down here ? " 
 
 " Want to see Dad. Is he very busy? " 
 
 " You know the orders," he said, closing the 
 gate quickly behind her, as if fearful some bar- 
 barian would try to steal through in her wake. 
 " Every one waits for you." 
 
 " You're a woefully poor liar, Tommy," she said,
 
 286 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 patting his arm. " You know it's a question of get- 
 ting rid of me quickly. I'll try to be saving with 
 your little ewe lamb's time. Has he many appoint- 
 ments this morning? " 
 
 " Well," he confessed uncomfortably, " none for 
 ten minutes or so. Will you go right in?" 
 
 " I suppose I'll have to," she laughed back over 
 her shoulder. " You won't ever take the trouble 
 to announce me in your best manner. Good morn- 
 ing, Dad." 
 
 " Oh, hello, Betty ! Beginning to think you'd 
 forgotten me." 
 
 " I had, completely," she retorted, bending to kiss 
 him before he could rise. " Have you missed me 
 at all?" 
 
 " Of course not," he said indignantly. " I never 
 know whether you're in the house. I rather prefer 
 to sit alone every evening. It's so social." 
 
 " Alone ? Where's mother ? " 
 
 " Went South yesterday with Mrs. Bob." 
 
 " Why didn't she let me know ? I'll come home 
 at once." 
 
 " Don't spoil your good time ; I'm all right. How 
 are Marian and Jimmie, and what brought you into 
 town?" 
 
 " Wanted to see you," she said, her expression 
 becoming serious. 
 
 " Why not make it luncheon ? I'll give you a
 
 A MAN'S WORD 287 
 
 party, if you say so; just us two. Tell Tom to call 
 up Sherry's and reserve a table." 
 
 " I'd rather talk here ; I don't approve of mixing 
 business and pleasure. Afterwards, I'll have lunch- 
 eon with you." 
 
 "What's wrong? Account overdrawn?" 
 
 " No," she cried, her gloved hand catching his 
 wrist as he reached for the telephone ; " I've more 
 than I can spend. I really mean what I say." 
 
 An expression, half surprise, half amusement, 
 came over his face as he leaned back in his chair 
 and crossed one knee over the other. " All right," 
 he assented, " only please remember that all my 
 life I've made it an unbreakable rule never to give 
 market tips to indigent females." 
 
 " I'm not asking charity," she announced soberly, 
 " and please, Dad, for once I want to be taken seri- 
 ously." 
 
 " All right, my dear, but also before you begin, 
 please remember that there is nothing in my life so 
 important as you." 
 
 She leaned impulsively toward him and her hand 
 closed over his. " Dad," she said, " I want to talk 
 about the road to Le Reve." 
 
 Many men had watched John Norton's eyes for 
 tell-tale signals and none had been rewarded. Even 
 his own flesh and blood had no idea of the sudden 
 pain which stabbed at his heart, yet he gently with-
 
 288 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 drew his hand lest she should feel it quaver. " The 
 road to Le Reve?" he repeated. "I'm afraid, 
 Betty, there's not even enough of that scheme left 
 to warrant an eulogy." 
 
 " I told you once," she recalled, " that you under- 
 estimated Mr. Danforth. I've not come to repeat 
 that. What I did come here for is to ask you if 
 there's not some way in which you can give him a 
 chance." 
 
 " You appear to be greatly interested in Mr. Dan- 
 forth." 
 
 " I'm more than that; I'm engaged to him." 
 
 For the first time in his career John Norton's 
 mask dropped. 
 
 " Betty ! " he said huskily. 
 
 Her face grew white as she saw how her blunt 
 announcement had hurt him and, with a choking 
 sob, all her pent-up emotions burst their bounds and 
 she threw herself into his arms, clutching him des- 
 perately. "Oh, Dad!" she faltered, "I didn't 
 mean to tell you that way. I didn't mean to hurt 
 you; you know I didn't mean to hurt you. But 
 he's so much to me, and I've suffered so! I can't 
 stand it alone any longer. I had to tell you. 
 You've always helped me; you'll help me now. 
 You'll help us, won't you ? " 
 
 " Betty," he said gently, " did Danforth ask you 
 to come to me ? "
 
 FOR THE FIRST TIME IX HIS CAREER JOHX NORTON S 
 MASK DROPPED "
 
 A MAN'S WORD 289 
 
 Her head went back with a jerk and her eyes met 
 his. " You know he didn't" 
 
 She felt his arms tighten convulsively and his un- 
 expected smile startled her. " Yes," he admitted, 
 " I do. I realize he's not that sort. But it's about 
 all I do know. You've knocked the props from 
 under me, dear. Sometime I knew this thing must 
 come, but, selfishly, I've hoped it might be a long 
 time in coming. What I know of him I like. If 
 you love him, that's enough. All I can do, Betty, 
 is to wish you as great happiness as you have 
 brought to me." 
 
 " That's like you," she choked, " just like you. 
 And I do love him. He's all you think him and 
 more. But don't you see what a dreadful tangle 
 it all is? Don't you know that I can't have you 
 and Stephen righting each other ? Don't you realize 
 how dreadful it would be for you and for him and 
 for me?" 
 
 " Yes," he agreed, " I think I can see your view- 
 point, but I'm almost as sure that you're not taking 
 an equally broad one concerning mine. I presume 
 I've only myself to blame for that, too," he added. 
 " I've never seen the advisability in asking you to 
 burden your mind with business affairs." 
 
 "That's true," she stated. "Now we're both 
 regretting it." 
 
 " Don't make it any harder," he urged grimly,
 
 290 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 walking half across the room. " If Danforth is 
 the man we both think he is," he said, swinging 
 around, "he will let this business make no more 
 difference between us than I will. He knows busi- 
 ness is business, and that men often have to do things 
 which are unpleasant and do them with a covering 
 smile." 
 
 " He may know it, but I don't think he accepts it 
 as a creed." 
 
 Mr. Norton's lips tightened. " Creeds and phi- 
 losophies of business are found only in books, my 
 dear, and the men who write those books play a 
 very small part in financial circles. Business is a 
 very unromantic, very practical, very sane thing 
 and has no leisure for theorists. It's a battle, its 
 forefront brains and the supporting artillery is 
 money. And after each skirmish or great fight the 
 opposing forces have a more wholesome respect for 
 each other." 
 
 " Does that hold true of Alonzo Sykes as well as 
 of you and Uncle Bob Sheffield? " 
 
 Mr. Norton stiffened at the thrust and glanced 
 at his daughter keenly. Apparently she was not 
 as ignorant of business as he had supposed. 
 " Mr. Sykes has been a good friend of mine," he 
 stated. 
 
 " And he's always square and above board and 
 reliable? Oh, Dad," she begged with a weary little
 
 A MAN'S WORD 291 
 
 shake of the head, " don't talk platitudes when I 
 want comfort." 
 
 Putting one arm around her, he drew her to his 
 chair, and, pulling her onto his knee as if she were 
 still a child, reached for his telephone. " Com- 
 fort, or anything I can give you, you can have. 
 Wait just a moment. Tom," he ordered, speaking 
 into the instrument, " cancel my engagements for 
 the rest of the morning. Now," he said, taking her 
 hand in both his, " tell me what you want and we'll 
 see how soon we can get it." 
 
 " All I want is that you and Stephen should work 
 together." 
 
 " Shall I put a desk in here for him? " he asked, 
 half jokingly, yet ready to do it should she as much 
 as nod. 
 
 " If I'd wanted to marry an office boy," she re- 
 torted, " I'd have chosen Tommy long ago. And 
 you don't want a son-in-law who'll do nothing but 
 hold your hat and coat." 
 
 " That's true. But it's equally true that this same 
 son-in-law will have quite a fortune to handle for 
 you." 
 
 " Don't ! Don't talk like that ! " 
 
 " Very well. What do you want me to do? " 
 
 " I want you to help Stephen instead of hinder- 
 ing him; I want you to help us build this road to 
 Le Reve. And it is ' us,' Dad," she went on, " for
 
 292 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 almost from the first I've seen the need of it. It 
 may not make a great fortune for any one, but it 
 will be a great help to a great many people who 
 need help. And, beside that, it's the first thing 
 he's ever done alone, and I don't want him to fail." 
 She rose and stood looking down at him, her face 
 flushed and her little hands clinched. 
 
 " I think," he said thoughtfully, " that first of all 
 we'd better attempt to eliminate the personal equa- 
 tion. Danforth's road was all very well as far as 
 it went, but, as you say, there was no prospect of 
 big dividends. There is in the scheme we have in 
 hand. I can see no reason why he shouldn't come 
 in with us, however. The slight misunderstanding 
 which arose between he and Al Sykes can easily 
 be glossed over, and the boys will be only too pleased 
 to give him a chance to build a real road for you." 
 
 " Yes," she cried, " for me. You don't know him. 
 I've told you over and over you under-estimate 
 him. He stands on his own feet. Even if I'd let 
 him accept a sinecure from your friends, he'd re- 
 fuse it." 
 
 " But what do you want me to do, Betty ? " 
 
 " I've told you help him to build the road to 
 Le Reve by withdrawing your foolish opposition. 
 You know that the only reason why you've blocked 
 him is because you men resented some one else's 
 seeing a chance you'd overlooked. You've proved
 
 A MAN'S WORD 293 
 
 by your own plans that Idylwild is not a considera- 
 tion." 
 
 " Betty," he said, his lips drawn into a thin line, 
 " you've mentioned our plans twice and on both 
 occasions with a certainty which rather more than 
 hints of familiarity. I don't want to appear to 
 question you, and, should you tell me you actually 
 know them in detail, I would never repeat it, for 
 my loyalty to you conies first. But if you do know 
 as much as you seem to want me to understand, 
 Dan forth must also have told you how vital those 
 plans are now that their fulfillment is under way." 
 
 " Don't you tell me more than you wish me to 
 know, either," she cautioned. " You appreciate by 
 now that our ideas of business ethics are very dif- 
 ferent, and if I thought I could use what you say 
 for the good of Le Reve, I'd do it. I'm playing 
 fair, Dad, but on this railroad matter I'm against 
 you heart and soul. I'm not going over to your 
 side; you're coming to mine." 
 
 " At least you're not ashamed of your colors," he 
 admitted. 
 
 " You are," she flashed at him. " You know 
 you are and I know you are. You want to be with 
 us, but something's holding you back." 
 
 " That's true," he admitted frankly, " partly true, 
 anyway. I always have been, and always hope to 
 be, with you. But in this case you've taken me
 
 294 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 unawares in more ways than one. Betty, those 
 boys who go up to Idylwild each fall with us are the 
 closest friends I have in the world. We started 
 at the foot of the ladder together, we've climbed 
 round by round together. Nothing has ever come 
 between us. If one was in a tight corner, he said 
 so and the other seven came in without a ques- 
 tion. It's been the old * all for one and one for 
 all ' from the start We've had some hard fights, 
 we've taken some sound lickings, but every time 
 we've come back with a united front to face the 
 next day. And we've been able to do this because 
 each has kept his word inviolate. A few months 
 ago we heard of Danforth's scheme. You know 
 how little concerned we were. Then Daniel Ben- 
 nitt's boy made a mess of everything. We dis- 
 covered Dan forth was in earnest and Alonzo took 
 the affair over, acting for us all. As soon as he 
 studied into it he saw possibilities which Danforth 
 was too immature or too cautious to grasp and he 
 called us together and laid his own fully matured 
 plans before us-. The most surprising thing was 
 that none of us had thought of them before. But 
 to be brought through successfully, they demanded 
 utter secrecy. The elimination of Danforth's plan 
 was imperative. It was eliminated. But before 
 that was done each and every one of us gave his 
 word to see the thing through. Now, my dear,
 
 A MAN'S WORD 295 
 
 you're asking me to break that word. You know 
 what it's worth to me, what my friends mean to 
 me, above all what your happiness is to me. I put 
 myself in your hands. What shall I do? " 
 
 She rose listlessly and began to pull on her 
 gloves. " Go through with it, Dad," she said ; " it's 
 all there is to do. I wouldn't ask you to break your 
 word any more than I'd ask Stephen to stop fight- 
 ing. And he will fight," she cried, her eyes glow- 
 ing. " You haven't eliminated him. I've told you 
 over and over, and I'll tell you again, you've under- 
 estimated him. It's one against eight, faith against 
 power, it's " Her voice broke, and, in spite of 
 her struggle, her affection overflowed and, swaying 
 toward him, she buried her face on his shoulder. 
 " It's," she sobbed; " it's going to be father against 
 son."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 
 
 Miss NORTON motored back to Wentworth House 
 convinced that life was a culminative series of dis- 
 cords, and her father, left to his own devices, found 
 he had company enough in his shaken thoughts. Of 
 one thing he was certain ; he must find some way of 
 untangling the web in which his daughter's confes- 
 sion had entrapped them both. That was impera- 
 tive. Nothing should interfere with her happiness. 
 Twice, late in the evening, he tried, unsuccessfully, 
 to get in touch with Robert Sheffield. For the first 
 time in his life he felt the need of support. 
 
 Nor did the message he received the next morn- 
 ing add to his peace of mind. His interrogations 
 evoked no information from Bennitt as to why this 
 disturbing young Dan forth had re-appeared in New 
 York with a request for a second conference. The 
 prospect of such a meeting, before his own plans 
 were formulated, distressed Norton. He realized 
 that he was becoming both unreasonable and abrupt 
 to those who came into his office, and, after an hour's 
 fight with his taut nerves, he further upset prece- 
 
 296
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 297 
 
 dent by stealing out of the place and going to one 
 of his up-town clubs for luncheon. 
 
 But there, too, everything went wrong, and he 
 ate hastily, and, to the relief of every one, started 
 down town again, determined to have a few 
 quiet moments with Bennitt before the others 
 arrived. 
 
 Yet even in this Fate played stronger cards in the 
 shape of a traffic jam. As he hurried into Ben- 
 nitt's office he found Sheffield idly gazing out of the 
 window while Alonzo Sykes was pleading with the 
 iron man of the four. But when he saw the new- 
 comer, Sykes stopped in the middle of a purring sen- 
 tence and glided forward, both hands outstretched. 
 " Oh ! " he beamed. " Here is John. My dear fel- 
 low, you come most opportunely. I am endeavor- 
 ing to make Daniel see that it is better to lay up 
 treasures in Heaven than in a mundane safe deposit 
 box. Add your voice to mine, John, that he may 
 give a paltry five thousand to my orphans." 
 
 Sheffield turned. " John's as skeptical of futures 
 as Dan is. If you get that five, you'll earn it. Sic 
 him again ! " 
 
 " Still a boy at heart, Robert ! " he beamed. " Still 
 a boy ! But you shall give me a second five." 
 
 " Sure if you blast the first one from that bar- 
 ren rock. Come over here, Jack, and give him a 
 sporting chance." He caught Norton by the elbow
 
 298 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 and led him to the window where he calmly relieved 
 him of his cigar case. 
 
 " What's brought Danf orth back ? " growled Mr. 
 Norton. 
 
 " Search me ! Dan had a wire from him. Says 
 he's equally in the dark." 
 
 " I know that." 
 
 " One thing I'm sure of he hasn't come back to 
 whimper." 
 
 " Glad you agree with me. Are you going to 
 keep the case, too? Thanks." He lit a cigar and 
 smoked a moment in silence. " Bob," he said 
 abruptly, " I like that youngster. He's clean cut 
 and rather more generously endowed with gray mat- 
 ter than the average. I'm rather in favor of en- 
 couraging him, if we can do it and still keep our 
 self-respect." 
 
 Sheffield glanced at him quizzically and a wise 
 smile was just visible beneath his iron-gray mus- 
 tache. " Jack," he said, " you talk like a man who's 
 been under pressure." 
 
 Norton looked up and their eyes met. " Pres- 
 sure?" he repeated. " Bob, I've been through hell. 
 You can guess what you don't know. What am I 
 going to do?" 
 
 " I don't know, Jack, but I'm going to do the same 
 thing. If a fight's coming, it's going to be almighty 
 unpleasant for you. And, knowing Danforth, I ex-
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 299 
 
 pect that's just what's scheduled. We've got to 
 stand by Dan and old Al, but afterwards you can 
 count on me for anything. If you don't need a 
 right-hand man, I can use one in my office. I'd 
 like Bet for a silent partner." 
 
 Norton gave the broad shoulder a quick grip, 
 turned abruptly and walked to Bennitt. " Dan," he 
 said crisply, " how long's this matter going to keep 
 us here ? " 
 
 " Only a few minutes." 
 
 Norton nodded. " We four began down where 
 he's beginning," he suggested. " A good many of 
 those days are vivid to me." 
 
 Sykes seized his hand with enthusiasm. " Good, 
 John ! Good ! " he cried. " It is inspiring to hear 
 you preach the Golden Rule inspiring and deeply, 
 deeply gratifying. But, John, do not permit senti- 
 ment to trespass upon business. We have formu- 
 lated and put in motion our plans and it would be 
 wickedness, not benevolence, to cast aside the task 
 the good Lord has set our hands to." 
 
 " I'm not shirking labor or responsibility, Alonzo ; 
 I'm offering a very tentative suggestion. I can't but 
 feel we owe Dan forth some well, call it consid- 
 eration, for the way in which we handled him. It 
 was a stiff jolt." 
 
 " We've given stiffer," retorted Sykes, the pupils 
 of his eyes becoming pin-points. " We've attained
 
 300 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 the position where we can handle the opposition as 
 we choose. Why this sudden desire to turn the 
 other cheek?" 
 
 " Your benign influence, Al," threw in Sheffield. 
 " You've no idea how the leaven you've scattered 
 among us loafers is working." 
 
 " Robert, cease your sacrilege ! " 
 
 " Sure ! " he agreed cheerfully ; " only you ac- 
 knowledge that Jack practices what you preach and 
 you don't. Neither of us is welching on this prop- 
 osition, or coming anywhere near it. All of us, the 
 other four as well as we men here, have agreed to 
 put this road through to Ste. Marie and our word's 
 still considered good, especially among ourselves. 
 We know a dollar when we see one, and none of us 
 has ever crossed the street to avoid meeting one face 
 to face. We're not going to begin now. This 
 young Danforth strikes me as being versatile, and 
 it may be that he's another scheme up his sleeve. 
 That's what John's trying to suggest, and, if he has, 
 let's give him a chance and not only make up for 
 man-handling him but show him we're white men." 
 
 Sykes shook himself together with an appreciable 
 effort. Sheffield was the only one of the group he 
 feared, for Sheffield alone made no attempt to curb 
 a naturally humorous tongue and Sykes dreaded rid- 
 icule above all else. " Of course," he agreed in 
 silky tones; "of course. John was unfortunate in
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 301 
 
 his choice of words. They misconveyed his inten- 
 tions to my somewhat dull brain. The years tell, 
 my friends; the years tell. I find the old head less 
 astute than it was in the yesterdays." 
 
 The door opened and Bennitt's secretary laid two 
 cards on the table. The big man picked up the top- 
 most, frowned, pursed his lips, then said, " Show 
 them in. Knight of the Trans-Dominion system's 
 with Danforth," he announced as the door closed 
 again. 
 
 A shadow flickered across the face of Sanctimo- 
 nious Sykes. " Knight ! " he exclaimed, his hands 
 raised. " Knight ? A godless individual whose 
 feet have followed devious paths. I have met him 
 before ; allow me to deal with him." 
 
 " No." John Norton's voice was heavy with final- 
 ity. 
 
 " Dan talks," asserted Sheffield with equal force. 
 
 Sykes shrugged his shoulders, and, drawing out a 
 chair, sat himself close to Bennitt's left ear. " As 
 you will," he murmured. " The majority shall ever 
 rule here." 
 
 " Mr. Knight and Mr. Danforth," announced the 
 secretary. 
 
 Danforth, as he crossed the threshold, replied to 
 their greeting with an equally formal " Good after- 
 noon, gentlemen," but Knight breezed past him, 
 smiling joyously. " Hello, Bennitt," he cried, seiz-
 
 302 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 ing the big hand offered to him. " Haven't seen 
 you up our way lately. Deserted our salmon for 
 small fish? Mr. Norton, I'll wager you've forgot- 
 ten meeting me at Duluth. No ? Good ! Glad to 
 see you again. No, I haven't the pleasure of know- 
 ing Mr. Sheffield. Glad of the opportunity. Oh, 
 yes! Mr. Sykes! " 
 
 That worthy, far from accepting the rather slight- 
 ing greeting at its face value, rose. " We rejoice 
 at our good fortune at having you amongst us once 
 more, Friend Knight," he cooed. " You are to be 
 sincerely congratulated upon the excellence of your 
 Trans-Dominion system. Few roads are as fortu- 
 nate in their executives." 
 
 " Um, yes ! " agreed Knight. " Very kind. Let's 
 get down to business. Shall Dan forth and I sit 
 here?" 
 
 " Anywhere you choose," returned Bennitt. 
 " Don't suppose there's any formality about this, 
 although we're entirely in the dark. Glad to listen 
 to anything you have on your mind." 
 
 "Me?" exclaimed Knight, sitting down and ac- 
 cepting the offered cigar with a nod. " Danforth's 
 one of my old boys. I trailed along as a sort of 
 chaperone. Maybe he's something on his mind, 
 though. It's a rather interesting mind." He 
 struck a match and smiled blandly at Sykes as he lit 
 his cigar.
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 303 
 
 Bennitt picked up a pencil and began to tap on the 
 table. " Found some new investment you want to 
 lay before us?" he asked with apparent interest. 
 
 Danforth cut the cigar Mr. Norton had silently 
 handed him. " No," he acknowledged, " not ex- 
 actly that. I'm a man who advances one idea at a 
 time. I've given a good deal of rather sober 
 thought to what occurred at, and what has devel- 
 oped from, our first interview and, in spite of your 
 edict against running through a corner of Idylwild 
 into the Le Reve valley, the idea still appeals to 
 me." 
 
 " You can't want to re-open that discussion ? " 
 
 " I do, Mr. Bennitt. It seems possible that your 
 adverse decision may have been partially due to my 
 lack of experience in knowing how best to set forth 
 such a proposition. It really is a very promising 
 field. To be perfectly frank, no vast wealth will 
 accrue to the owners of the road, but it should be 
 able to pay a little something within a few years. 
 Such development has proved profitable in the 
 Northwest. I can't find a logical argument against 
 equally good results in the Northeast." 
 
 " Such profits are entirely speculative, Danforth. 
 Speculation, to be successful, must be on a larger 
 scale." 
 
 " I'm afraid you think in six figures while I'm 
 only considering four," admitted Danforth. " Also,
 
 304 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 I'm counting as profits another side of the project 
 well, not exactly the charitable, but what might best 
 be termed the sociological side. That, I should im- 
 agine, might, from what I hear of Mr. Sykes, ap- 
 peal to him more strongly than mere cash dividends. 
 The road I plan will be of much benefit to a number 
 of sturdy citizens who are at present cramped into 
 the non-producing class. Many of them are old 
 friends of yours men who have served you loy- 
 ally. I believe they should be given better oppor- 
 tunities." 
 
 " You speak of the sociological when you mean 
 the socialistic," stated Bennitt ; " we're not interested 
 in socialism. As for the financial side, I see no rea- 
 son to mince phrases. It's chimerical." 
 
 " Exactly so," agreed Sykes. " Your choice of 
 words, Daniel, is charming. Even our earnest 
 young friend must admit that no better descriptive 
 could be found for a road to Le Reve than ' chi- 
 merical,' ' He rubbed his dry palms together, smil- 
 ing sweetly at the taste of his wit. 
 
 Danforth frowned, but, otherwise ignoring Sykes, 
 continued to address Bennitt. " As I've said, I 
 still feel that my inability to word my arguments 
 more forcefully is responsible for your lack of sym- 
 pathy." 
 
 " Not in the least. I don't think anything you 
 can say will make us alter our determination to have
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 305 
 
 nothing whatsoever to do with this scheme. I 
 thought that had been made clear." 
 
 " I presume it has been from your viewpoint, 
 not from mine, however. You called me stubborn 
 before," he recalled with a slight smile; " my inter- 
 est in the people of the Le Reve section must be the 
 root of that stubbornness. If words are of no avail, 
 I'd like the privilege of showing you a few fig- 
 ures." 
 
 The staccato tapping of Mr. Bennitt's pencil be- 
 came more rapid but in his voice was no trace of his 
 impatience. " I can't see the necessity of wasting 
 our time. The ground has been thoroughly cov- 
 ered, we've listened to you and you've had our an- 
 swer in no debatable terms. I think Knight will 
 agree that it is unpleasant for a man to repeat a 
 refusal." 
 
 " Knight's neither agreeing nor disagreeing ; he's 
 an interested listener," stated the Canadian. " But 
 he is presuming that you consider your refusal to 
 permit the building of this road into Le Reve final." 
 
 " We do." 
 
 Danforth drew a long breath, but, instead of get- 
 ting up to go, as Bennitt expected, he uncrossed his 
 legs, and, leaning forward, rested his arms on the 
 table. " I have so many reasons for wishing this 
 road to be built," he said, " that I'm not willing to 
 accept this as final without doing something which,
 
 306 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 at first, I had no intention of doing and that is, offer- 
 ing to compromise." 
 
 At the word Sheffield glanced across the table, but 
 John Norton sat immovable, and only on keener in- 
 spection did he notice a small frown gathering be- 
 tween his eyebrows. Sheffield himself, startled at 
 such a suggestion from a man to whom he had 
 judged the word unknown, turned to look at Knight. 
 Something he saw there made him sit up. " We're 
 not over-familiar with the gentle art of compromise, 
 Dan forth," he said ; "it never appealed to us. 
 However, as long as you're here, I'm willing to lis- 
 ten to you." 
 
 " Ever generous ! " sighed Sykes. " Proceed, 
 young man, but nurse not false hope." 
 
 " I won't," retorted Danforth. " As you know, 
 Mr. Bennitt, a company had been loosely organized 
 when you brought our activities to an end. Ar- 
 rangements had been made with Mittendorf & Co. 
 to underwrite the necessary issues of bonds. They 
 found the investment attractive, and, I imagine, 
 you're close enough to them to know what their 
 judgment's worth. But they played me a scurvy 
 trick, and, under all contingencies, they're elimi- 
 nated. However, there is no lack of bankers and it 
 will be easy to interest some of them." 
 
 " Have you found it so ? " 
 
 " I'll answer that later, if you insist, Mr. Shef-
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 307 
 
 field. What I am saying now concerns you four 
 men and your absent associates. If you will with- 
 draw your opposition to my plan, I'll guarantee that 
 you'll be given equal chances with my friends in our 
 flotation. Any stock you may wish to realize on 
 can be placed among prospective shippers and others 
 who will derive benefit from the road. They should 
 be given a voice in the management, anyway. But 
 they can, by no means, swing the entire financial 
 burden. Such an arrangement leaves it in your 
 power to retain as large a block of the voting stock 
 as you deem fit; that is, up to the amount which 
 would give you actual control. That I do not offer 
 nor will I consent to. The board must be non-parti- 
 san. Under this plan I believe you will find an ex- 
 cellent opportunity for a reasonably profitable in- 
 vestment which will actually benefit men who have 
 added much to your enjoyment and profit in the 
 wilderness." 
 
 " Doesn't appeal to us," said Bennitt promptly ; 
 " altogether too visionary." 
 
 "That's final?" 
 
 " It is." 
 
 " For all of you?" He turned to Sheffield and 
 Norton, who nodded agreement. " Very well," he 
 said. " I've done what I believe's the square thing." 
 
 " That is ever laudable in a young man," soothed 
 A. P. Sykes. " I trust that you do not mean to
 
 308 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 imply that anything but mature judgment has af- 
 fected our decision? " 
 
 " I'm implying nothing," retorted Danforth, his 
 jaw squaring aggressively. " Contrary to sound 
 advice, I've done a lot of useless talking, but I've 
 done it to satisfy reasons which are entirely personal. 
 The underlying causes for your decision are your 
 own, Mr. Sykes, and, possibly, none of my affair. 
 But this much I am conversant with. After our 
 former meeting I went to Augusta and examined 
 your plans for the so-called Idylwild extension." 
 
 " That was your privilege," stated Bennitt, be- 
 coming impatient. " You found specifications for a 
 road from the present railhead to Mirror Stream." 
 
 "That," agreed Danforth, "was all I found 
 there. But it occurred to me that it would not be 
 presumptuous to question what Mr. Sykes calls his 
 ' mature judgment ' on the profits to be derived 
 from such an extension." 
 
 " It's not projected as a profit-making proposition 
 but as a convenience." 
 
 Danforth's eyebrows went up at this exposition of 
 Sanctimonious Sykes's mis-applied socialism, and, 
 although his eyes did not leave Bennitt's face, he 
 was conscious of Mr. Norton's uneasy movement as 
 he half -turned from the table. Bennitt's manner 
 was almost insulting as he tossed his pencil onto the 
 table and pushed back his chair. " Danforth," he
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 309 
 
 announced in a voice which showed his intent to 
 close the matter, " we'll try to appreciate your desire 
 to protect us from our own whims, but, as I take it, 
 you didn't come here to warn us, let's end this." 
 
 "Hold on!" cried Danforth. "While I came 
 here hoping that I wouldn't have to warn you, you've 
 forced me to do just that." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 Leaning forward, the younger man emphasized 
 his points by the crack of his knuckles on the bare 
 table. " Your plans were so innocent they aroused 
 my curiosity. I've been in the woods north of Idyl- 
 wild. I've tramped from Mirror Stream through 
 to Ste. Marie. I've confirmed the suspicion those 
 plans aroused. Your road from railhead to the 
 stream is a blind. You're planning a connection 
 with the A. & M. at Ste. Marie. You're after a 
 tide water outlet for Sykes's A. & M." 
 
 Bennitt leaned back and smiled benignly. 
 " You're railroad man enough to approve, I hope. 
 After all, we're really under obligations to you for 
 having brought the possibilities of such a move to 
 our attention." 
 
 Danforth was completely nonplussed. His be- 
 wildered expression, as he turned to Knight, showed 
 that he had expected a cool denial of the correctness 
 of his surmise. " Then why," he asked, more to 
 gain time than from a desire for knowledge, " did
 
 310 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 you take such pains to obliterate all traces of your 
 preliminary survey?" 
 
 Alonzo Sykes, tasting the sweets of a pleasant 
 victory, raised a protesting palm. " My dear young 
 sir," he triumphed, " I fear me that among your 
 many other oversights you have failed to consider 
 both our years and sphere of action. Surely you 
 cannot expect men whose hair is white and whose 
 limbs are withering under the numbing touch of age 
 to take cognizance of minor details such as the meth- 
 ods employed by underlings. We are kindly, and, 
 I beg to remind you, tolerant, but I, for one, can- 
 not see where your question leads to nor why it 
 should be dignified by an answer. Brother Bennitt 
 has been patient, as becomes the Christian gentleman 
 he is, but there is a limit to all things." 
 
 "You're right, there is!" snapped Danforth. 
 " I've reached mine. I'm through questioning and 
 you've answered my last one. Now I'm going to 
 state facts to you, Mr. A. P. Sykes. The first one 
 is that your road from Mirror Stream to Ste. Marie 
 is never going to be built." 
 
 " Let not your angry passions rise, young man," 
 warned Sykes, springing to his feet and avoiding the 
 hand which Mr. Norton tried to lay on his arm. 
 " It is not for you to say what things we shall do nor 
 what things we shall not do. That road shall be 
 built."
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 311 
 
 " I have told you that it shall not." 
 
 " Hold on, Alonzo," broke in Sheffield ; " my cu- 
 riosity's aroused. Why won't it be built, Dan- 
 forth?" 
 
 " Because of a certain quarter section your friend 
 was good enough to call to my attention." 
 
 " Ah ! " cried Sykes. " So you were actually fool- 
 ish enough to rebuy your father's old land." The 
 cunning vanished from his face and his expression 
 became wolf -like, even to the yellow teeth which 
 showed beneath the snarling lips. " Your loose 
 tongue has made you a thorn in my flesh, my young 
 friend, and, like a thorn, you shall be plucked out 
 and cast aside. Your plan is commensurate with 
 your intellect. On a former occasion you were so 
 rash as to threaten condemnation proceedings 
 against us. I imagine certain changes may be forth- 
 coming. Your damages, I fear me, may, as a re- 
 sult, be disappointingly small." 
 
 " Thanks for the information," Dan forth fired 
 back. " It's old news. As long as you've harked 
 back to our former unpleasantness, permit me to 
 suggest that I'm quite as capable of adopting an 
 adversary's tactics as you are." 
 
 "What do you mean?" Bennitt, waving Sykes 
 aside, endeavored to regain control of the discus- 
 sion. 
 
 " I mean that there bas been filed with the rail-
 
 312 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 road commission which is also honored by your 
 plans, plans and specifications for a line through my 
 recently acquired quarter section. Having seen the 
 wisdom in Sykes's former suggestion, I'm going into 
 the lumber business and I'm figuring on hauling my 
 logs over my own rails." 
 
 Bennitt leaned back in his chair once more. 
 "Absurd! You know you can't afford to ship 
 across the boundary." 
 
 " That's my lookout. The main point of interest 
 to you is that you cannot run an opposition line 
 through that country into Ste. Marie. Neither to- 
 pography nor demand warrant competition, and it 
 would be too raw a deal for public sentiment to 
 gulp." 
 
 Knight's chuckle and Bennitt's half -smothered ex- 
 clamation passed unnoticed as A. P. Sykes leaned 
 across the table and shook his weazened fist under 
 Danforth's nose. " This is a hold-up," he snarled ; 
 " a dirty, low-lived hold-up ! " 
 
 " If the term suits you," agreed Danforth, " it is." 
 
 " Then what's your price? " 
 
 "For what?" 
 
 " To get out of our way." 
 
 " I'm not going to get out of your way, my very 
 dear sir." 
 
 " Then what do you intend to do? " 
 
 " I've told you so many times I hate to repeat it
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 813 
 
 again, I'm going to build a road to Le Reve." 
 
 Bennitt rose and came down the side of the table. 
 " Keep still, Alonzo ! " he abruptly commanded. 
 " I'll do the talking. Knight, can't you come out of 
 your trance and make this man say something that's 
 got some workable feature in it? There's no sense 
 in this Le Reve business." 
 
 " He's shown me some almighty sensible figures, 
 Bennitt. You made one of your mistakes in not 
 examining them when he offered to show them to 
 you. If they were mine, I'd revise them some be- 
 fore you saw them now. He's got you, got you 
 good and plenty." 
 
 " Nothing of the sort," cried Sykes shrilly. 
 " We'll drop the whole affair." 
 
 "Thanks," accepted Danforth instantly. "The 
 moment you do, I begin to build toward Le Reve." 
 
 Sykes turned from red to saffron. " You've mis- 
 interpreted my meaning as usual," he snapped. 
 " Both parties will retire by mutual consent. A 
 blind road to Mirror Stream would be as foolish an 
 investment as your lumber road." 
 
 " Won't you permit me to be my own judge 
 of that? I'm greatly taken with the idea of build- 
 ing a railroad, and I'm going to build one over 
 one of the two routes. That, gentlemen, is 
 final." 
 
 Bennitt looked from Norton to Sheffield, then
 
 314 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 shrugged his shoulders. " Oh, hell, Danforth ! 
 What's the use in arguing? You've got us." 
 
 "Now you're talking!" cried Knight. "It's 
 been a long time coming, but you're talking." 
 
 " Business is business," rejoined Bennitt with a 
 laugh so genuine that it even deceived his associates. 
 " What's your proposition, Danforth ? " 
 
 " My original one, Mr. Bennitt a line from the 
 end of the road leading into Idylwild, through a 
 corner of your property, and on into the Le Reve 
 valley and from there to Rivere du Lac where it will 
 connect with the Trans-Dominion. You'll see the 
 main features are the same as in your plan, only the 
 connections are different. And, in addition, the Le 
 Reve route is through a country capable of develop- 
 ment, a good bit shorter and a good deal cheaper, 
 so far as construction goes." 
 
 " What do we get out of it ? " piped Sykes. 
 
 Knight looked at the little man, then, thrusting 
 his hands into his trousers pockets, walked close to 
 him and for a moment examined him from head to 
 foot. " Speaking under the belief that your ' we ' is 
 your customary editorial plural, Friend Sykes," he 
 drawled, " I'll answer that innocent query in my own 
 rough way. Once upon a time, a devout and very 
 sanctimonious little shrimp did me a dirty turn. I 
 have since learned that others, apparently far more 
 appreciative of his ability than I, suffered also.
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 315 
 
 This same turn I refer to gave him control of a 
 railroad commonly spoken of as the * A. & M.' It 
 has long been a thorn in my flesh, Brother Sykes, 
 and, like a thorn, it is now going to be plucked and 
 put back in the bush where it belongs. The Trans- 
 Dominion needs an American outlet. This Le Reve 
 road will join us at Rivere du Lac. It's going to be 
 a regular road, too. But for some reason that he 
 would not confide to us, Dan forth insisted on offer- 
 ing you people an equal chance in financing it. It 
 was the only condition he did insist upon before ac- 
 cepting the offer of our board. And, strictly be- 
 tween you and me and another yellow pup, Brother 
 Sanctimonious Sykes, the news that you've turned 
 down this offer won't cause any wailing and gnash- 
 ing of teeth in Montreal." 
 
 Alonzo P. Sykes drew himself up to his full five 
 feet, four inches. " Mr. Knight," he said icily, 
 " there are some insults which even business deals 
 do not condone." 
 
 " Happy to have hit on one," said Knight care- 
 lessly, and turned his back on him. 
 
 Both Sheffield and Norton were on their feet, but, 
 for once, John Norton could find no words which 
 might quell the rising trouble. For the first time 
 his personal affairs had crowded business into the 
 background and he found himself standing inert 
 staring at this youngster who had dealt Daniel Ben-
 
 316 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 nitt a knock-out blow and congratulating himself 
 that his own defeat was actually a victory. 
 
 But Robert Sheffield had not so much at stake. 
 " Oh, see here, Knight," his big, good-natured voice 
 boomed out, " what's the use in you and Al clawing 
 each other over that old A. & M. mess? What's 
 the use in any of us pounding our chests, flapping 
 our wings and doing a lot of crowing which doesn't 
 fool any one ? It's been my experience that, when a 
 man beats me at my own game, the best thing to do 
 is to have him on my side the next time I play. Dan 
 was dead right. We're all in this thing to stay, but, 
 if we stick to our own plans, it means a gorgeous 
 fight and the profits go to the lawyers. Let's spend 
 nothing and get something. Al's willing to take 
 his own little licking from Knight. It's a species 
 of ' bread upon the waters ' and he's game enough to 
 swallow it and forget it. So's Knight. Danforth's 
 got us hog-tied; we can't argue that. You were 
 too clever for us, youngster. We've got to accept 
 your terms. Make ' em as generous as you can." 
 
 " Just what I was about to suggest," purred Sanc- 
 timonious Sykes, putting down his hat and coat. 
 " Stephen is a young man who, with us to council 
 him, will go far and be of great credit to himself and 
 to us." 
 
 Knight's jaw dropped, but Sheffield's wink 
 brought a sudden consenting " Oh, hell ! " out of him
 
 DANGER SIGNALS 317 
 
 and with a laugh he leaned against the table. " I'll 
 be as game as you are, Sheffield," he agreed. " Go 
 on; shoot the rest of your plan. Only before you 
 do," he added, " I'd like to remark that you've a 
 little water power out in Wisconsin that's always 
 appealed to me." 
 
 " All right, old man, you're in," chuckled Shef- 
 field. " We need more capital out there. But in 
 this other matter I think I prefer to retire before 
 you make a grab for my shirt and socks. Why 
 don't we turn the thing over to Norton and Dan- 
 f orth ? They can get together, formulate some sort 
 of a working basis and report back to us to-morrow. 
 That is, if you're willing to trust the Trans-Do- 
 minion interests to him." 
 
 Knight dropped a hand on Danforth's shoulder. 
 " You're on," he said. " Steve's proved himself 
 fairly competent to care for our interests before this. 
 How about you, Norton ? " 
 
 " Entirely satisfactory." 
 
 "And you, Danforth?" 
 
 The younger man looked at John Norton and 
 there was something in his eyes which made him 
 reply with a mere nod.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CLEAR TRACKS 
 
 SOMETHING in Mr. Norton's manner, when sug- 
 gesting that Danforth come to his home that eve- 
 ning for their conference, had puzzled the younger 
 man and his discomfiture over his confrere's appar- 
 ent indifference had still further increased when, 
 seemingly in afterthought, he had mentioned that 
 he was alone and suggested that Danforth arrive in 
 time to dine. So little had he had to say during the 
 general conversation, Danforth was practically ig- 
 norant of his position, and, while he had long ago 
 come to believe that Norton was the diplomat of the 
 Idylwild clique, he knew, both from Knight and 
 others, that his was also the most astute mind, and 
 that, should their discussion simmer down to a basis 
 of compromise, the Le Reve crowd might suffer 
 because of his own lack of experience. 
 
 He tried to get the Canadian to give a couple of 
 hours to his plans but Knight merely laughed at the 
 idea, adding that he was going with Sheffield and try 
 to forget that he had ever heard of a railroad. And 
 now, with victory ready to fall into step at his side, 
 
 318
 
 CLEAR TRACKS 319 
 
 he began to experience his first doubt as to his own 
 ability to clean up the battlefield. He would have 
 given much for a few moments with Betty Norton. 
 When, driven to a telephone at last by the nervous- 
 ness resultant from the let-down from months of 
 anxiety, it was to find she had unexpectedly left 
 Wentworth House. A great loneliness came over 
 him, greater by far here in the roar of the city than 
 he had felt in the vast silence of the spruce. He 
 did not know where to turn for companionship 
 nor how to employ the hour or more before he 
 must dress. 
 
 This new feeling of apprehension troubled him all 
 the more because, try as he would, he could think 
 of nothing which could justify it. All that re- 
 mained to be done was to state his terms and ac- 
 knowledge their acceptance. Before another win- 
 ter passed, glittering tracks of steel would be reach- 
 ing through the wilderness toward Le Reve, and the 
 frozen spray from Lone Pine Falls would crust the 
 girders of a bridge instead of turning the dull, green 
 spruce to gleaming white. 
 
 Even when he entered the Norton house on the 
 upper Avenue it was still with the same sensation of 
 impending evil hanging over hhn and it was inten- 
 sified by the stillness of the great house and the som- 
 berness of the footman who carefully closed the 
 door before speaking. " Mr. Norton is in his li-
 
 320 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 brary," he announced, taking Danforth's hat and 
 coat. 
 
 As he followed down the huge hall, he was con- 
 scious of dimly lighted rooms opening at either side, 
 magnificent in their finishings but strangely unhome- 
 like in their emptiness. The intimate touch of per- 
 sonality was lacking; yet, as the thought suggested 
 itself, he looked through the doorway at his left a 
 second time. A dim lamp burned low in a heavy 
 bronze which must once have stood by some high 
 altar, yet which now seemed the proper sentinel be- 
 fore a grand piano. For an instant the troubled 
 frown left his forehead, for, into the setting, visu- 
 alized the spirit of a girl, more wonderful than all 
 the treasures scattered about as she touched the white 
 keys more softly than the shadows themselves. Not 
 until that moment had he fully realized the vast gulf 
 which yawned between them and it by no means 
 dispelled his dread of the interview to come. 
 
 He heard the footman knock discreetly on a heav- 
 ily paneled door and shook himself together as he 
 stepped into a small room. The paper fell from Mr. 
 Norton's hand as he rose from a deep chair before 
 the open fire and came half way to meet his guest. 
 " Possibly I've done you an injustice," he said with 
 a cordial smile," but I've imagined you don't enjoy 
 cold-storage formality. Come over by the fire. 
 Glad to see you here."
 
 CLEAR TRACKS 321 
 
 " Thanks." As he started for the chair Mr. Nor- 
 tion indicated, his eyes left the man to study once 
 more his surroundings. This time he halted in 
 frank curiosity. Certainly personality was not 
 lacking here. All the magnificence of the other 
 apartments was missing, yet the pictures, hanging 
 above the rank upon rank of books, were, he knew, 
 the winnowings of a collector's years. A pair of 
 Carets, a great, booming headland of Homer's, a 
 little Ziem, two of those tingling masterpieces which 
 only Messonier could paint, and another which he 
 could not place but which in some way recalled the 
 very fragrance of Idyl Island when the wind swept 
 across the lake from the spruce. 
 
 " Like it? " Although there was an half-amused 
 note in the question which brought him to his senses, 
 he noted the half-anxious gleam in Mr. Norton's 
 eyes. 
 
 Danforth's answering smile was genuine frank- 
 ness itself. 
 
 " I'm not envious by nature," he confessed, " but 
 I've had dreams of such a room." With uncon- 
 cealed interest he turned to see better the fourth 
 wall. Above the door hung the mounted head of a 
 buck. There was nothing esthetic about it, in fact 
 it rather hinted at moths, and, as an example even 
 of the taxidermist's art, it was strangely incongruous 
 with its surroundings. " Now tnat chap," he de-
 
 322 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 clared, " was the biggest buck you ever saw and 
 you killed him with the first shot." 
 
 " You're right!" Mr. Norton nodded emphat- 
 ically as he stood before the fire, staring up at the 
 trophy, his hands in the pockets of his dinner-coat. 
 " Got him first time I went into what's now Idyl- 
 wild. Know the place that bunch of pads over 
 by the brook on the north shore, just below the big 
 ridge?" 
 
 " Been there within three weeks. Get him under 
 a jack?" 
 
 "Not much! In broad day. Rufe floated me 
 up to him. And if there's a man in the north woods 
 who can handle a paddle like Rufe Haley, I've got 
 to find him." 
 
 " Ever try it yourself? " 
 
 Mr. Norton threw back his head and laughed. 
 " Yes, but my nose always begins to itch before I've 
 gone fifteen yards and then I have to scratch it and 
 it's all up." 
 
 Dan forth chuckled. All remembrance of his 
 dread over this meeting vanished and he began to 
 understand Haley and Salisbury's unwavering loy- 
 alty to John Norton. " Always gets me in the 
 small of the back," he confessed. " I didn't seem 
 to inherit the requisite thickness of hide from my 
 forebears to be a successful woodsman. But, 
 frankly, Mr. Norton, is there anything that feels so
 
 CLEAR TRACKS 323 
 
 good as that tingle which comes when you see your 
 first buck crumple ? " 
 
 " There is not. See here, Danforth," he said 
 abruptly, " you'll be up our way next fall a good 
 deal; why not take a couple of weeks off and join 
 Bob Sheffield and me up in New Brunswick? 
 Moose aren't so bad." 
 
 The younger man flushed with pleasure. The 
 genuineness of the spontaneous invitation was un- 
 mistakable. Yet in some way all the things it 
 implied did not occur to either of these men 
 whose love of the wilderness had made them 
 forget the forerunner of civilization which had 
 brought them together. " I'll go," promised Dan- 
 forth, "if I have to walk. I've yet to get my 
 moose." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Never had time. I've bagged a mountain sheep 
 or so in the Northwest but that was almost a case 
 of business. Always wanted a moose." 
 
 " You're going to have one," declared Mr. Norton 
 as if it were a no more difficult promise to fulfill 
 than one to take this youngster up to the Bronx; 
 " you're going to have one, and a good one. Why, 
 I know " He broke off abruptly and began to 
 laugh like a boy. " See here, Danforth," he ex- 
 claimed, hurrying across the room to a bell, " you've 
 gotten me riding my worst hobby and it's making
 
 324 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 me forget the very rudiments of hospitality. I've 
 something I think you'll appreciate." 
 
 He waited impatiently until a servant appeared, 
 gave a low-spoken order and turned back to the fire. 
 " See any of the boys when you were up North? " 
 he asked eagerly. 
 
 " Yes, they've had a starvation winter. Rufe 
 went part way through to Ste. Marie with me." 
 
 " The old ingrate ! Rufe was about your age 
 when we first became friends," he added. " He was 
 the first guide I ever employed. Never saw him 
 flustered but once and that was when I discharged 
 Betty's French governess and gave him the job." 
 
 " He thinks the sun rises when Miss Norton tells 
 it to." 
 
 " She comes pretty nearly feeling the same way 
 toward him, even if she has outgrown a determi- 
 nation which had the old man trying to explain the 
 inadvisability of his becoming either bigamist or 
 murderer. Ah, here we are!" Taking the heavy 
 decanter from the butler, he carefully poured a drink 
 into each of the two glasses and, handing one to 
 Danforth, nodded. " A cocktail," he said, " con- 
 tains all the jangle of the city and the false drive of 
 our civilization but this is honest stuff, mellowed 
 by years in the wood and tastes best when you look 
 over the rim of your glass at a friend who appreci- 
 ates the sound things in life. Here's how! "
 
 CLEAR TRACKS 325 
 
 So honest was the compliment that the younger 
 man flushed with pleasure as he raised his glass but, 
 just as it touched his lips, the door behind him 
 opened and he heard a low, rippling laugh. Turn- 
 ing, he saw Betty Norton coming toward him, one 
 hand outstretched, her cheeks rose-tinted with ex- 
 citement, her soft white gown clinging to her slender 
 figure. 
 
 " I thought," he stammered, " I thought you had 
 gone away." 
 
 " I've just come home." 
 
 " Always seemed inhospitable to me," broke 
 in Mr. Norton, " to ask a man to inaugurate his 
 acquaintance with a home when the best part of 
 that home is absent. We got started on the 
 woods, Betty, and I forgot to mention you were 
 here." 
 
 The girl looked from one to the other and a great 
 contentment came over her. " I'll forgive you this 
 once," she agreed, " but as long as I'm generous, 
 don't you think you'd better return the compliment. 
 Tell me what happened this afternoon." 
 
 Mr. Norton saw, as well as understood, the anx- 
 ious expression which had come into her eyes, and 
 a tantalizing smile crinkled the corners of his 
 mouth as his fondness for teasing her asserted itself. 
 " Business makes a poor hors-d'oeuvre," he men- 
 tioned carelessly.
 
 326 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 With an impatient little gesture she turned to 
 Danforth. " You'll tell me," she ordered. 
 
 " He hasn't the heart to spoil your appetite, 
 Betty." 
 
 " I thought as much," she cried. " You've both 
 done something you're ashamed of. Is it a widow 
 or an orphan who mourns this time ? " 
 
 Mr. Norton laughed. "We might as well own 
 up, Danforth," he acknowledged. " Betty, there're 
 three sobbing widows, seven doomed orphans and 
 one poor, crippled old man." 
 
 " You're becoming very amateurish," she ob- 
 served, " but I seem to note a rather sheepish bra- 
 vado which advertises that you've been forced to do 
 something you don't want to confess. How much 
 has it cost you, Dad ? " 
 
 " Isn't dinner about ready? " 
 
 " Probably not. You've at least been successful 
 in disorganizing everything here. But you're not 
 going to change the subject." 
 
 " But I asked Danforth to a dinner, not to a fam- 
 ily debate," he complained. 
 
 " You're both being starved into submission," she 
 laughed. " It's what's called poetic justice." 
 
 " I prefer epicurism to epics," he stated. 
 "Therefore I'll go in person and see what's 
 wrong." 
 
 "Coward!"
 
 CLEAR TRACKS 327 
 
 " Not at all," he called back ; " I'm my daughter's 
 father and I prefer my information first hand." 
 
 " Was there ever such a trying person ! " she ex- 
 claimed, as the door closed behind him. " Do you 
 blame me " She stopped, for turning she saw 
 the look in Danforth's eyes and the color flooded her 
 cheeks. " You have succeeded," she said, " suc- 
 ceeded in everything." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 " Because," she answered, coming toward him, 
 " because you're you and you told me you would." 
 
 "Betty!" 
 
 " No ! " she cried, checking him with a quick mo- 
 tion of the hands. 
 
 His arms dropped slowly to his side and an ex- 
 pression came over his face which made it difficult 
 for her to hide her longing to both laugh at his 
 ignorance at women's ways and then to be more 
 tender to him because of this very innocence. " But 
 I love you," he said, " for months I've loved you and 
 for the past two weeks the thought of you has been 
 what has kept me fighting, what has made possible 
 the thing I've accomplished, what has made the 
 road to Le Reve not a dream road but one which will 
 be a reality within the year." 
 
 " And they're not going to block you ? " 
 
 " They're going to help me," he answered. 
 " They're going to back my road your father and
 
 328 
 
 your father's friends and Knight, the man you sent 
 me to." 
 
 " I did nothing of the kind," she cried. " I 
 didn't, I didn't!" 
 
 " Won't you let me share even a little of it with 
 you, Betty? Won't you take a part of what is to 
 come to Le Reve for yours ? Won't you share the 
 first victory with me? Won't you understand that 
 all I am is all yours, if you'll only take it? " 
 
 " Stephen," she charged, her eyes dancing, " I 
 believe you're trying to propose to me ! " 
 
 For a moment his bewilderment was complete, 
 then, all at once, he sprang forward and swept her 
 close to him. "Do you think so?" he cried tri- 
 umphantly; " do you really think so? " 
 
 " I," she confessed, " I rather hoped so. I'd an 
 answer ready." 
 
 "What is it, dear?" 
 
 Her head went slowly back and her eyes looked 
 into his as he bent closer to her lips. " This," she 
 said.
 
 &X3Z&X&X8X08K83^^ 
 
 i 
 
 SIX STAR RANCH 
 
 rjj Another success by the author of the 
 wonderful GLAD Books: 
 
 Trade Mark 
 
 " Pollyanna : The GLAD Book " 
 
 Trade Mark Trade Mark 
 
 " Pollyanna Grows Up : The Second GLAD Book 
 
 Trade Mark Trade 
 
 With frontispiece in full color from a painting by R. 
 Farrington Elwell and six spirited drawings by Frank 
 J. Murch. Bound uniform with the POLLYANNA 
 books in silk cloth, with a corresponding color jacket, 
 net $1.25; carriage paid 
 
 The year we published POLLYANNA, THE GLAD 
 BOOK, we published another book by the same author, 
 but as it is contrary to our policy to issue two books by 
 one writer in a year, we published the second book under 
 the pseudonym " Eleanor Stuart." 
 
 As we are not going to publish a new book of Mrs. 
 Porter's this year, we have decided to announce the pub- 
 lication of SIX STAR RANCH under the name of its 
 real author. The success of her previous books is prac- 
 tically unparalleled in the history of American publish- 
 ing, POLLYANNA: THE GLAD BOOK, having al- 
 ready sold 300,000 copies an average of more than 
 100,000 copies for three consecutive years and POLLY- 
 ANNA GROWS UP: THE SECOND GLAD BOOK, 
 having sold nearly 150,000 copies in nine months. 
 
 SIX STAR RANCH is a charming story, in the au- fi 
 thor's best vein, of a dear little Texas girl, who plays ' 
 " the glad game " made famous by POLLYANNA, and j 
 plays it with a charm which will put her on the same I 
 pinnacle, side by side with POLLYANNA. 
 
 &S3^&Q^Q8^*^^
 
 SYLVIA OF THE HILL TOP 
 
 2^fc A Sequel to "Sylvia's Experiment, 3J& 
 The Cheerful Book" 
 
 Trade ~~ Mark 
 
 ^KCargaret R. 'Piper 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, 
 decorative jacket, net $1325; carriage paid $1.40 
 
 * 
 
 In THE CHEERFUL BOOK Sylvia Arden proved 5 
 herself a messenger of joy and cheerfulness to thousands 
 of readers. In this new story she plays the same rdle on 
 Arden Hill during her summer vacation and' is the same 
 wholesome, generous, cheerful young lady who made 
 such a success of the Christmas Party. She befriends 
 sick neighbors, helps " run " a tea-room, brings together 
 two lovers who have had differences, serves as the con- 
 venient bridesmaid here and the good Samaritan there, 
 and generally acquits herself in a manner which made 
 of her such a popular heroine in the former story. 
 There is, of course, a Prince Charming in the back- 
 ground. 
 
 " The SYLVIA books should be read by all the expo- 
 nents of POLLYANNA of THE GLAD BOOKS," says 
 Mr. H. V. Meyer of the American Baptist Publication 
 Society. 
 
 i 
 :| 
 
 &X&&C8tt&&3&&XX0^^
 
 THE GIRL FROM THE BIG 
 HORN COUNTRY 
 
 Jftary gllen Chase @ 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by R. Farrington 
 Elwell, net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40 
 
 At the beginning of the story, Virginia Hunter, a 
 bright, breezy, frank-hearted " girl of the Golden West," 
 comes out of the Big Horn country of Wyoming to the 
 old Bay State. Then " things begin," when Virginia, 
 who feels the joyous, exhilarating call of the Big Horn 
 wilderness and the outdoor life, attempts to become 
 acclimated and adopt good old New England " ways." 
 
 Few stories reveal a more attractive heroine, and the 
 joyous spirit of youth and its happy adventures give 
 the story an unusual chanr 
 
 " The book has natural characters, fresh incidents, 
 and a general atmosphere of sincerity and wholesome 
 understanding of girl nature. Virginia may well become 
 as popular as ' Miss Billy ' or irresistible Anne." New 
 York Sun.
 
 THE VIOLIN LADY 
 
 A Sequel to "The Fiddling Girl" and 
 "The Proving of Virginia" 
 
 'Daisy Rhodes Campbell 
 
 Frontispiece in full color from a painting by F. W. 
 Read, and six black and white illustrations by John 
 Ooss, decorative jacket, net $1,25; carriage paid $1.40 
 
 This new story continues the adventures of the once 
 little Fiddling Girl and tells of her triumphs and hard- 
 ships abroad, of her friends, her love affairs, and finally 
 of Virginia's wedding bells and return to America. The 
 previous two books in this series have been pronounced 
 excellent and uplift stories, but " The Violin Lady " is 
 far ahead of both in interest and charm. 
 
 The press has commented on the author's previous 
 stories as follows: 
 
 " A delightful story told in a charming manner. The 
 Page Company does a real service indeed in the publi- 
 cation of so many of these excellent stories." Zion's 
 Herald, Boston. 
 
 "A thoroughly enjoyable tale, written in a delightful 
 vein of sympathetic comprehension." Boston Herald.
 
 Or, The Romance of 
 John Alden Shaw 
 
 gliot H. Robinson 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, iffith a frontispiece in full color 
 and other illustrations by William Van Dresser, net 
 $135; carnage paid $lJjQ 
 
 The story of John Alden Shaw is in many respects 
 unique. Containing an enigma of an unusual nature, 
 an odd legal tangle and a deep moral problem, the plot 
 holds the reader's attention to the very end. Quite as 
 interesting as the major theme of the story are the 
 minor incidents, for the greater part of the action occurs 
 in gay Newport during " tennis week " and one some- 
 what unusual feature of the book is the introduction of 
 several real and widely known characters chiefly ( tennis ; 
 stars of international reputation and actual happenings, 
 which give the tale peculiar realism. As the author is \ 
 recognized as one of our leading writers on tennis, the 
 scenes at the famous Casino during one of the national 
 championships are particularly well drawn. 
 
 While primarily a problem love story, MAN PROPOSES 
 is essentially a book "with a difference." The heroine 
 is a charming Southern girl, decidedly American in her 
 ideas, while John is himself a very real sort of young 
 man, and though possessed of sterling qualities which 
 bring him victoriously through his great test, is no 
 paragon of virtues. 
 
 " Man proposes, but God disposes! " Thomas a Eempis. 
 
 " Prithee, why don't you speak for yourself, John? " 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 As the story unfolds the reader will appreciate the j 
 significance of the above lines. 
 
 &&s&ansy&^^
 
 ANNE'S WEDDING 
 
 RH A Blossom Shop Romance $H 
 
 A Sequel to "The Blossom Shop" and "Anne of the 
 Blossom Shop" 
 
 Isla May Mullira 
 
 l%mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color 
 from a painting by Gene Pressler, net $1.25; carriage 
 paid 
 
 This new book continues the story of a delightful 
 Southern family of unique combinations, which have 
 been introduced to thousands of interested readers 
 through the two preceding volumes, THE BLOSSOM SHOP 
 and ASTKE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP. The new volume 
 promises to be by far the most popular of the three 
 which is saying a good deal for these stories, sweet 
 and clean, with their picturesque Southern setting, have 
 charmed both old and young. In the new volume Anne, 
 May and Gene, three girls of varying types from lovely 
 Mrs. Carter's garden of girls, touch life in new and vital 
 ways which develop sterb'ng character and set promising 
 and full-blown romance to stirring. 
 
 " There is so much of sunshine in its pages that it 
 sheds its cheerfulness upon the reader, making life 
 seem brighter and convincing us that this world is a 
 pleasant place to live in and full of delightful, kind- 
 hearted people." Boston Timts.
 
 THE ROAD TO LE REVE 
 
 fBrewer Corcoran 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, net 
 paid $140 
 
 ; carriage 
 
 In this story of society and the wilderness not the 
 wilderness of the average angler but the wilderness 
 de luxe of the multi-millionaire fishing club Mr. 
 Corcoran deals powerfully with the vital theme that the 
 few should give up their pleasures for the good of the 
 many. Not only does Betty Norton turn rebel to 
 environment, but foe to her father and the rest of the 
 Idylwild clique, whose interests spread out like the web 
 of a spider. Her fight for individuality, her loyalty and 
 her charm are as real as the realities of which she is 
 the apostle. And fighting at her side is Steve Danforth, 
 not a player of polo or a hero of the hotel piazzas, but 
 a clean-cut, red-blooded young engineer who not only 
 dreams of a road to Le Reve, but makes a dream come 
 true. 
 
 Primarily this story is a romance a romance of 
 remarkable merit, combining the attractions of a novel 
 of modern American enterprise and finance with those 
 of a fascinating love story, full of youth, open air and 
 adventure. 
 
 The keynote of unselfishness which is struck in this 
 book is the controlling one of the hour.
 
 Selections from 
 
 The Page Company's 
 
 List of Fiction 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 ELEANOR H. PORTER 
 POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book (340,ooo) 
 
 Trade Mark Trade Mark 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by Stockton Mulford. 
 
 Net, $1.25; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 Mr. Leigh Mitchell Hodges, The Optimist, in an editorial for 
 the Philadelphia North American, says: "And when, after 
 Pollyanna has gone away, you get her letter saying she is go- 
 ing to take ' eight steps ' to-morrow well, I don't know j ust 
 what you may do, but I know of one person who buried his 
 face in his hands and shook with the gladdest sort of sadness 
 and got down on his knees and thanked the Giver of all glad- 
 ness for Pollyanna." 
 
 POLLYANNA GROWS UP: The Second GLAD Book 
 
 Trade Mark (170,000) Trade Mark 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by H. Weston Taylor. 
 
 Net, 1.25; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 When the story of POULYANNA told in The Glad Book was 
 ended a great cry of regret for the vanishing " Glad Girl " 
 went up all over the country and other countries, too. Now 
 POLLYANXA appears again, just as sweet and joyous-hearted, 
 more grown up and more lovable. 
 
 " Take away frowns ! Put down the worries ! Stop fidgeting 
 and disagreeing and grumbling ! Cheer up, everybody ! POLLT- 
 AXXA has come back!" Christian Herald. 
 
 The GLAD Book Calendar 
 
 Trade "Mark 
 
 THE POLLYANNA CALENDAR 
 
 Trade Mark 
 
 (This calendar is issued annually; the calendar for the new 
 year being ready about Sept. 1st of the preceding year. Note: 
 in ordering please specify what year you desire.) 
 
 Decorated and printed in colors. Net, $1.50; carriage paid, 
 
 $1.65 
 
 "There is a message of cheer on every page, and the calen- 
 dar is beautifully illustrated." Kansas City Star.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 WORKS OF ELEANOR H. PORTER (Continued) 
 
 MISS BILLY (lyth printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 
 painting by G. Tyng $1.50 
 
 " There is something altogether fascinating about ' Miss 
 Billy,' some inexplicable feminine characteristic that seems to 
 demand the individual attention of the reader from the moment 
 we open the book until we reluctantly turn the last page." 
 Boston Transcript. 
 
 MISS BILLY'S DECISION (loth printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 
 painting by Henry W. Moore. 
 
 Net, $1.25; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 " The story is written In bright, clever style and has plenty 
 of action and humor. Miss Billy is nice to know and so are 
 her friends." New Haven Times Leader. 
 
 " The author has succeeded admirably in repeating so de- 
 lightful a character and in making her the heroine of so many 
 interesting and amusing adventures." The Springfield Union. 
 
 MISS BILLY MARRIED (8th printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 
 painting by W. Haskell Coffin. 
 
 Net, $1.25; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 " Although Pollyanna is the only copyrighted glad girl, Miss 
 Billy is just as glad as the younger figure and radiates just 
 as much gladness. She disseminates joy so naturally that we 
 wonder why all girls are not like her." Boston Transcript. 
 
 " No one can come within the charmed circle of Miss Billy's 
 radiant personality without a vast increase of good cheer, of 
 insistent optimism and outgoing unselfishness. She is one of 
 the vital characters that vitalize everyone." Christian En- 
 deavor World. 
 
 CROSS CURRENTS 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.00 
 
 "To one who enjoys a story of life as it is to-day, with its 
 
 sorrows as well as its triumphs, this volume is sure to appeal." 
 
 Book News Monthly. 
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.25 
 
 " A very beautiful book showing the influence that went to 
 the developing of the life of a dear little girl into a true and 
 good woman." Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio.
 
 X7ST OF FICTION 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 L M. MONTGOMERY 
 
 AXXE TRILOGY 
 
 ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (4oth printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus. 
 
 $1.60 
 
 " In ' Anne of Green Gables ' you will find the dearest and 
 most moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice." 
 Mark Twain in a letter to Francis Wilson. 
 
 ANNE OF AVONLEA ( 22 nd printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs . . $1.50 
 " A book to lift the spirit and send the pessimist into bank- 
 ruptcy ! " Meredith Nicholson. 
 
 ANNE OF THE ISLAND 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 
 painting by H. Weston Taylor. 
 
 Net, $1.25; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 " It has been well worth while to watch the growing up of 
 Anne, and the privilege of being on intimate terms with her 
 throughout the process has been properly valued." New York 
 Herald. 
 
 CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (6th printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs. 
 
 Net, $1.25; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 " A story of decidedly unusual conception and interest." 
 Baltimore Sun. 
 
 THE STORY GIRL (pth printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs . . $1.50 
 " A book that holds one's interest and keeps a kindly smile 
 upon one's lips and in one's heart." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD (loth printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs . . $1.50 
 " A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brimful of the 
 sweet life of the primitive environment." Boiton Herald. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ROAD (sth printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs. 
 
 Net, $1.25; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 " It is a simple, tender tale, touched to higher notes, now 
 and then, by delicate hints of romance, tragedy and pathos." 
 Chicago Record-Herald.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 ISLA MAY MULLINS 
 THE BLOSSOM SHOP: A Story of the South 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by John Goss. 
 
 Net, $1.00; carriage paid, $1.15 
 
 " Frankly and wholly romance is this book, and lovable as 
 is a fairy tale properly told. And the book's author has a 
 style that's all her own, that strikes one as praiseworthily orig- 
 inal throughout." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 " There is so much of sunshine in its pages that it sheds its 
 cheerfulness upon the reader, making life seem brighter and 
 convincing us that this world is a pleasant place to live in and 
 full of delightful kind-hearted people." Boston Times. 
 
 ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP; Or The Grow- 
 ing Up of Anne Carter 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 painting by Z. P. Nikolaki. 
 
 Net, $1.00; carriage paid, $1.15 
 
 " A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, 
 refreshing as a breeze that blows through a pine forest." 
 Albany Times-Union. 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 DAISY RHODES CAMPBELL 
 THE FIDDLING GIRL 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by John Goss . . . $1.25 
 " A thoroughly enj oyable tale, written in a delightful vein of 
 sympathetic comprehension." Boston Herald. 
 
 THE PROVING OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by John Goss. 
 
 Net, $1.^5; carriage paid, $1.40 
 
 " A book which contributes so much of freshness, enthusiasm, 
 and healthy life to offset the usual offerings of modern fiction, 
 deserves all the praise which can be showered upon it."- 
 Kindergarten Review.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS 
 HAUNTERS OF THE SILENCES 
 
 Cloth decorative, with many drawings by Charles Livingston 
 Bull, four of which are in full color . . ., $2.00 
 
 The stories in Mr. Roberts's new collection are the strongest 
 
 and best he has ever written. 
 
 He has largely taken for his subjects those animals rarely 
 
 met with in books, whose lives are spent " In the Silences," 
 
 where they are the supreme rulers. 
 
 " As a writer about animals, Mr. Roberts occupi -^s an envi- 
 
 able place. He is the most literary, as well as the ivo^t imag- 
 
 inative and vivid of all the nature writers." Brooklifi 
 
 RED FOX 
 
 THE STORY OF His ADVENTUROUS CAREER IN THE RINGWAAK 
 WILDS, AND OF His FINAL TRIUMPH OVER THE ENEMIES OF 
 His KIND. With fifty illustrations, including frontispiece in 
 color and cover design by Charles Livingston Bull. 
 Square quarto, cloth decorative ...... $2.00 
 
 " True in substance but fascinating as fiction. It will inter- 
 est old and young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know 
 animals and those who do not." Chicago Record-Herald. 
 
 THE KINDRED OF THE WILD 
 
 A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE. With fifty-one full-page plates 
 
 and many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston 
 
 Bull. 
 
 Square quarto, cloth decorative ..... $2.00 
 
 " Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal 
 
 stories that has appeared; well named and well done." John 
 
 Burroughs. 
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE TRAILS 
 
 A companion volume to " The Kindred of the Wild." With 
 forty-eight full-pnge plates and many decorations from 
 drawings by Charles Livingston Bull. 
 
 Square quarto, cloth decorative . .* . . . $2.00 
 
 " These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet ro- 
 
 bust in their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of 
 
 woodcraft. Among the many writers about animals, Mr. Rob- 
 
 erts occupies an enviable place." The Outlook.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 THE HOUSE IN THE WATER 
 
 With thirty full-page illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull 
 and Frank Vining Smith. Cover design and decorations by 
 Charles Livingston Bull. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . . . $1.50 
 " Every paragraph is a splendid picture, suggesting in a few 
 words the appeal of the vast, illimitable wilderness." The 
 Chicago Tribune. 
 
 " This is a book full of delight. An additional charm lies in 
 Mr. Bull's faithful and graphic illustrations, which in fashion 
 all their own tell the story of the wild life, illuminating and 
 supplementing the pen pictures of the author." Literary 
 Digest. 
 
 THE HEART THAT KNOWS 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative ..... $1.50 
 " A novel of singularly effective strength, luminous in liter- 
 ary color, rich in its passionate, yet tender drama." New York 
 Globe. 
 
 EARTH'S ENIGMAS 
 
 A new edition of Mr. Roberts's first volume of fiction, pub- 
 l> c hed in 1892, and out of print for several years, with the 
 addition of three new stories, and ten illustrations by Charles 
 Livingston Bull. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 
 
 " It will rank high among collections of short stories. In 
 'Earth's Enigmas' is a wider range of subjects than in the 
 ' Kindred of the Wild.' " Review from advance sheets of the 
 illustrated edition by Tiffany Blake in the Chicago Evening 
 Pott. 
 
 BARBARA LADD 
 
 With four illustrations by Frank Verbeck. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 
 
 " From the opening chapter to the final page Mr. Roberts 
 lures us on by his rapt devotion to the changing aspect* of 
 Nature and by his keen and sympathetic analysis of human 
 character." Boston Transcript. 
 
 "A very fine novel. We unhesitatingly pronounce it ... 
 one of the books that stamp themselves at once upon the imag- 
 ination, and remain imbedded in the memory long after the 
 covers are closed." Literary World, Boston.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 THE PRISONER OF MADEMOISELLE 
 
 With frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 
 
 A tale of Acadia, a land which is the author's heart's de- 
 light, of a valiant young lieutenant and a winsome maiden, 
 who first captures and then captivates. 
 
 " This is the kind of a story that makes one grow younger, 
 more innocent, more light-hearted. Its literary quality is im- 
 peccable. It is not every day that such a heroine blossoms into 
 even temporary existence, and the very name of the story bears 
 a breath of charm." Chicago Record-Herald. 
 
 THE HEART OF THE ANCIENT WOOD 
 
 With six illustrations by James L. Weston. 
 
 Library 12mo, decorative cover $1.50 
 
 " One of the most fascinating novels of recent days." Boston 
 Journal. 
 
 " A classic twentieth-century romance." New York Commer- 
 cial Advertiser. 
 
 THE FORGE IN THE FOREST 
 
 Being the Narrative of the Acadian Ranger, Jean de Mer, 
 Seigneur de Briart, and how he crossed the Black Abbe", and 
 of his adventures in a strange fellowship. Illustrated by Henry 
 Sandham, R. C. A. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 
 
 A story of pure love and heroic adventure. 
 
 BY THE MARSHES OF MINAS 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.50 
 Most of these romances are in the author's lighter and more 
 
 playful vein; each is a unit of absorbing interest and exquipite 
 
 workmanship. 
 
 A SISTER TO EVANGELINE 
 
 Being the Story of Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into 
 exile with the villagers of Grand Pr6. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.50 
 
 Swift action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep pas- 
 sion, and searcMug analysis characterize this strong novel.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 NATHAN GALLIZIER 
 THE SORCERESS OF ROME 
 
 Cloth decorative, with four drawings in color by " The Kin- 
 
 neys" $1.50 
 
 The love-story of Otto III., the boy emperor, and Stephania, 
 wife of the Senator Crescentius of Rome. 
 
 CASTEL DEL MONTE 
 
 Cloth decorative, with six drawings by H. C. Edwards. 
 
 $1.50 
 A romance of the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in Italy. 
 
 THE COURT OF LUCIFER 
 
 Cloth decorative, with four drawings in color by " The Kin- 
 
 neys" $1.50 
 
 An historical romance woven around the famous Borgia 
 family. 
 
 THE HILL OF VENUS 
 
 Cloth decorative, with four drawings in color by Edmund H. 
 Garrett .... Net, $1.35; carriage paid, $1.50 
 This is a vivid and powerful romance of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury in the times of the great Ghibelline wars. 
 
 THE CRIMSON GONDOLA 
 
 Cloth decorative, with four drawings in color by Edmund H. 
 Garrett .... Net, $1.35; carriage paid, $1.50 
 " Mr. Gallizier is unusually strong in the use of description 
 
 and conveys vividly the gorgeous decadence and luxury of the 
 
 sybaritic city." Los Angeles Sunday Times. 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 HELEN M. WINSLOW 
 
 THE PLEASURING OF SUSAN SMITH 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated. Net, $1.00; carriage paid, $1.15 
 " One is glad to recommend this book to folk who care for 
 romance, humor and good sense." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 PEGGY AT SPINSTER FARM 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by Mary G. Huntsman . $1.50 
 
 " Very alluring is the picture she draws of the old-fasliioned 
 
 house, the splendid old trees, the pleasant walks, the gorgeous 
 
 sunsets, and or it would not be Helen Winslow the cats." 
 
 The Boston Transcript.
 
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