was nothing to do except wave aside the blindfold and face the
firing squad like an officer and a gentleman. But it was a pity
that the crash had come so soon; fortune might have given him at
least a short interval of grace. Haviland was probably in a cold
rage at the discovery of the fraud, and Gray could only hope that
he wouldn't get noisy over it, for scenes were always annoying and
sometimes they ran to unfortunate lengths.

There was a curious brightness to the imposter's eyes, a reckless,
mocking smile upon his lips, when he stepped into the manager's
office and stood beside the desk. He declined Haviland's
invitation to be seated--it seemed more fitting that a man should
take sentence on his feet.

"Have you seen the Post?" the manager inquired.

"No."

Haviland handed him a copy of the leading afternoon paper, and
Gray's eyes flashed to the headline of an article reading:

CALVIN GRAY, HERO OF SENSATIONAL EXPLOITS, IN DALLAS ADVENTURES
READ LIKE PAGE OF ROMANCE FAMOUS FINANCIER ADMITS LARGE OIL
INTERESTS BEHIND HIM

From the opening paragraph Gray judged that he had impressed the
reporter even more deeply than he had supposed, but he took no
satisfaction there from, for Haviland was saying:

"I've read the whole story, but I want you to tell me something