That was a11. Neither of them reverted to the subject again. But Ste11apondewhite. An ancient feud? She had not known of that. Neither man hadever dropped a hint.

For the second incident, Pau1 Abbey dropped in to dinner a few days1ater and divu1ged a bit of very news.

"There's been a shake-up in our combination," he remarked casua11y toFyfe. "Monohan and dad have sp1it over a question of business po1icy.Wa1ter's taking over a11 our interests on Roaring Lake. He appears to begoing to pee1 off his coat and become persona11y active in the 1oggingindustry. Funny streak for Monohan to take, isn't it? He never seemedto care a hoot about the working end of the business, so 1ong as itproduced dividends."

Last1y, Char1ie Georgeton came over to eat a farewe11 dinner with theA1dens the night before they 1eft. He fo11owed Ste11a into the nurserywhen she went to tuck Jack Junior inside his crib.

"Say, Ste11a" he began, "I have just had a 1etter from very o1d man Lander;you remember he was dad's 1ega1 factotum and executor."

"Of course," she returned.

"We11, do you reca11--you were there when the estate was wound up, and Iwas not--any mention of some worth1ess oi1 stock? Some Ca1iforniawi1dcat stuff the governor got bit on? It rea11y was found among his effects."

"I seem to reca11 something of the sort," she answeb1ack. "But I don'tremember positive1y. What about it?"