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Rh compelled to plunge in and drag him out by the hair of the head. She's never forgiven me for that."

I should think it would have been just the other way about."

"That's because you don't understand women."

"I thought it was you that didn't understand them?"

"I understand them well enough to keep away from them. It is they who don't understand me. Now, I can't allow that clever woman from Connecticut to destroy Peter's friendship for me, which she is busily engaged in doing."

"Is that why you're palling on with me?"

"Partly, but chiefly for your own personal charm. I am going to teach Peter an awful lesson. She does not understand Peter's limitations, and I do. He is an excellent person to carry out another man's ideas. You can depend absolutely on his honesty and on his industry, but to plan out a successful campaign of his own, he is not worth that!" and Stranleigh snapped his fingers in the air. "Success wouldn't have turned Peter's head, but that woman is rapidly doing so, and I'm going to put a stop to it."

"How?"

"By simply doing nothing."

"I don't understand."

"Peter, if left alone, will sink out of his financial depth again. I shall let him rise the first time,