The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-10-19
CHAPTER 3a. TENDER THOUGHTS

crlve and once outside the gates turned into a' field. He could have found his way blindfolded but out here under the sky and away from shadowy trees, 1t was not SO dark The cloudless expanse. above. his head was luminous and already pricked with stars. The moon had not yet risen.
 As he walked, his thoughts clear ed If it was Nan who had saved his life ten years ago at the risk of her own, and if she had known this, their whole relation was on different basis; it was profound ly affected-so profoundly, in fact, as to alter the entire point of view.
 He went back to the stinging shock of Rosamund's defection on the eve of their marriage. He had believed then, and had since had this belief intensified, that it was a shameless and callous maneuvre to supplant him as his grand fathers heir.
 To counter this, he must be mar ried by the date fixed in Ambrose Weare's will. Nan had stepped into the breach with her quiet pro- posal that they should marry as matter of business. She had been very businesslike. She must have something for her trouble-a per- centage. She had in fact, put her self up for sale for ten thousand dollars. He had not known then that the money was for her sis ter who was now on her way to Australia.
 Jervis was aware that he him. self had not bothered about being fair. In marrying Nan he spoiled Rosamund's dirty game, and that was all he had cared for at the time. In the last 24 hours he had experienced disposition to turn his back on the events which had led up to the marriage. They made a background incompatible with Nan as he was beginning to know her.
 F. F.'s story made it impossible to blot things out, He felt instead an overwhelming desire to know what had been at the back of Mans mind when she proposed that business arrangement. He had set her down as shrewd oppor- tunist catching at marriage above her hopes. But, then, why not play her best card-why not show her scar and claim his gratitude? :?
 The shrewd opportunist would surely have done this. And Nan according to F. F. had hidden her trump card instead of playing it. She had hidden her percentage, too. No opportunist worth the name would have neglected to claim Nigel Forsyth as a father. What had been in her mind?
 Something glimmered among his thoughts. like a will O the wisp. It was a dancing point of light that turned a fhckering gleam here and there and was gone. He would have married anyone and picked her up anywhere. He had certainly been mad, and it was Nan who had stood between him and the abyss. The gleam touched, that
 None of these things presented themselves to him in words. It could hardly be said that he rec ognized what the gleam showed him. His conscious thought had not greatly altered as yet. There was behind it a pressure which would compel it to alter.
 Jervis turned and began to walk back by the way he had come. One think at least he could now explain to his own satisfaction, and that was Mans extraordinary obsession with regard to Robert Leonard. He didn't of course be- lieve the story of Leonard coming down the cliff and passing the pool. That was nonsense-part of the obSeSSion.
 No-what had happened was quite obviously true-Nan had seen Leonard somewhere on the beach.