"Son," sez I, "I'm a store-house o' knowledge, an' I'm about to open the flood-gates an' pour it forth. How many Alice LeMoynes did you ever happen to hear of?" "Only but the one," sez Bill. "It was a fake name probably, an' one was all they ever struck off that die. What about her?" "Oh, nothin' much," sez I, "only a stray Englishman happened to pull that name on us a while back, an' I wondered where he came into possession of it." "You got somethin' up your sleeve," sez Bill, who was a mite too observin' at times; "what is it you want to know?" "Nothin' at all," sez I; "I know all I want to now." "What kind of lookin' feller was it?" sez Bill. "Purty harmless," sez I; "watery blue eyes, fair size, purty good lookin', nice manners, book-talker, owns a little ranch; oh, he won't set no important rivers on fire." Bill studied awhile. "How old was he?" sez he. "Why, he's about my age, in years," sez I. "It might be Richard--if Lord James is still alive, Richard is the heir apparent," sez Bill. "How long have you known o' this feller?" "Oh, this ain't Richard," sez I. "He ain't got epolepsy nor insanity; he's just stingy an' stupid." "How do you know he ain't got epolepsy?" sez Bill. "'Cause he don't bark like a dog nor froth at the mouth, nor he ain't afraid o' water," sez I. "You're thinkin' o' hydrophobia," sez Bill. "Epolepsy is sort o' fits." "Well, by gum, he did have one fit!" sez I. "What kind?" sez Bill. "Why, I worked a trick on him, an' he stiffened out an' his eyes got set, an' he was the sickenest lookin' human I ever met up with," sez I. "That's it!" sez Bill, "an' you say he knew about Alice LeMoyne?" "That's what give him the fit," sez I. "I bet it's Richard," sez Bill. "This will make a story for me, an' you can work things for the reward. Where is he?" "Say, you come along with me to the Diamond Dot," sez I. "Things are goin' to happen promiscuous up there after a bit, an' you don't want to miss it. Never mind about the reward. I'm goin' to handle this affair just as if the' wasn't such a thing on earth as the Clarenden family." "You make me tired," sez Bill; it allus was spurs to him to cut him out of a secret. "You try to pertend 'at you're nothin' short of a world power; but I bet you're just flim-flammin'." "Nothin' 'at Happy Hawkins'd do would surprise me," sez Jessamie. "Now that I've seen him in a dress suit, hob-nobbin' with the bun-tong, I'm prepared for anything." She was a good feller all right. Well, we chatted along a while, an' they told me that they wanted to see Frisco an' the Yosemite Valley, an' then would head for Colonel Scott's, where it'd be handy to drop over to the Diamond Dot at any time. "Well," sez I, "I'll write you some letters of introduction to a few o' my friends here, an' mebbe after you've seen Frisco, all you'll want will be rest--just plain, simple rest; less'n your ruggeder built than me."