And further, she was making the evening sure. She would not be back for dinner, or till long after dinner, it was a safe wager, unless she brought the whole Wickenberg crowd with her. She would be back late enough to expect him to be in bed. Well, he would not disappoint her, he decided grimly, as he replied to Colonel Stoddard:

“The experiment works out splendidly on paper, with decently wide margins for human nature. And there I admit is the doubt and the danger — the human nature. But the only way to test it is to test it, which is what I am doing.”

“It won’t be the first Dick has charged to profit and loss,” Paula said.

“But five thousand acres, all the working capital for two hundred and fifty farmers, and a cash salary of a thousand dollars each a year!”