For a moment Monty stood as though dazed.

Then the excitement which had shone in his face slowly subsided.

He stood quite silent, muttering softly to himself, his eyes fixed upon Trent.
"Her picture! My little girl's picture! Trent, you're joking, you're mad!" "Am I ?" Trent answered nonchalantly.

"Perhaps so! Anyhow those are my terms! You can play or not as you like! I don't care." A red spot burned in Monty's cheeks, and a sudden passion shook him.

He threw himself upon Trent and would have struck him but that he was as a child in the younger man's grasp.