PART I--BARBARA'S REBELLION



CHAPTER I

CARTWRIGHT MEDDLES

Dinner was over, and Cartwright occupied a chair on the lawn in front of
the Canadian summer hotel. Automatic sprinklers threw sparkling showers
across the rough, parched grass, the lake shimmered, smooth as oil, in
the sunset, and a sweet, resinous smell drifted from the pines that
rolled down to the water's edge. The straight trunks stood out against a
background of luminous red and green, and here and there a slanting beam
touched a branch with fire.

Natural beauty had not much charm for Cartwright, who was satisfied to
loaf and enjoy the cool of the evening. He had, as usual, dined well,
his cigar was good, and he meant to give Mrs. Cartwright half an hour.
Clara expected this, and, although he was sometimes bored, he indulged
her when he could. Besides, it was too soon for cards. The lights had
not begun to spring up in the wooden hotel, and for the most part the
guests were boating on the lake. When he had finished his cigar it would
be time to join the party in the smoking-room. Cartwright was something
of a gambler and liked the American games. They gave one scope for
bluffing, and although his antagonists declared his luck was good, he
knew his nerve was better. In fact, since he lost his money by a
reckless plunge, he had to some extent lived by bluff. Yet some people