But if the savage scowl of him told the truth, Brant was in no mood to find harmony in anything--to find it or to contribute to it. Having mailed the two letters in the baggage car, he pushed his way aggressively through the narrow space between the trains, intent only upon getting free of the crowd. At the steps of the Pullman he jostled one man so rudely that the victim turned in pardonable heat. It was Hobart; and when he recognised the offender resentment gave place to gladness. “Why, George! By all that’s good, this is lucky! I had given up all hope of seeing you on this trip.” Brant shook hands as if it were a thing which could not be avoided, and his greeting was anything but cordial. “How are you?” he said; and then, reverting to the hope, “I guess it wasn’t very hard to give up; I haven’t been hard to find.” “Perhaps not, but I managed to miss you all around; drove first to your boarding house, and have just come down from your office. I have been in town only an hour and a half, all told, and a good bit of that was used up in taking Kate over to Judge Langford’s. But never mind about that; luck is with us for a minute or two. How are you getting along? and why don’t you write once in a while?” Brant ignored the friendly questions, and went back of them to the statement of fact. “Do you know the Langfords?” he asked. “Why, yes; didn’t I tell you? I meant to send you a note of introduction to them. The judge is one of the stockholders in our mine--the vice-president, in fact.” “And you say Mrs. Hobart is at Hollywood?” “Yes; I brought her down on a visit. Too much altitude for her on Jack Mountain. But tell me about yourself. How has the world been using you?” “As well as I deserve, I suppose,” answered Brant shortly--so shortly that Hobart knew not what to make of it. Then the conductor’s cry of “All aboard!” warned him that he had but a moment more, and he took a card from his case and scribbled a line on the back of it. “Take this and call upon them--only you won’t need it if you will make yourself known to Kate. Sixteen, Altamont Terrace, is the number; but if you know Hollywood, you know the place. They are good people to know, and Kate will put you on an old friend’s footing from the start.” Hobart tossed his handbag up to the porter and turned back for a last word. “Now don’t put it off; go soon--this evening, if you have time.” And seeing that Brant stood as one indeterminate, he bent to whisper: “Kate knows nothing but good of you, if that makes any difference.”