If I'd looked at her then----" "Of course, not then," interrupted Rann smilingly.

"That would have been impolite, Quade, and not at all in agreement with the spirit of our brotherly partnership.

And, you must admit, Marie is a devilish good-looking girl.

I've surrendered her only for a brief spell to DeBar.
After he has taken us to the gold--why, the poor idiot will probably have been sufficiently happy to----" He paused, with a suggestive shrug of his shoulders.
"-- go into cold storage," finished Quade.
"Exactly." Again Quade leaned over the table, and for a moment there was silence, a silence in which Aldous thought the pounding of his heart must betray him.
He lay motionless on the floor.

The nails of his fingers dug into the bare wood.