river, or touched a bell which set going a saw-mill with its many cross-
cut saws, or filled a ship to take the pine, cedar, maple, ash or elm
boards to Europe, or to the United States, was terrible to him. He loved
the smell of the fresh-cut wood. The odour of the sawdust as he passed
through a mill was sweeter than a million bunches of violets. Many a
time he had caught up a handful of the damp dust and smelt it, as an
expert gardener would crumble the fallen flowers of a fruittree and sniff
the sweet perfume. To be master of one of the greatest enterprises of
the New World for three years, and then to disappear! He felt he could
not do it.

His feelings shook his big frame. The love of a woman troubled his
spirit. Suppose the will were declared and the girl was still free,
what would she do?

As he set foot in the office of the firm of Belloc, however, he steeled
himself to composure.

His task well accomplished, he went back to his own office, and spent
the day like a racehorse under the lash, restive, defiant, and reckless.
When night and the shadows came, he sat alone in his office with drawn
blinds, brooding, wondering.




CHAPTER XXI

THE SECRET MEETING