Mrs. Harper fluttered some more. "Oh, I--er--but--where--" "This way, my dears," Bill said, in a gentle, fatherly tone, as he led them to the Nevada desk. Mrs. Harper signed her name. As Bill read it he looked up at her with sudden interest. He put a detaining hand on her arm before she could flutter away, and at the same time, turning to the maid, he directed her to have a chair for a moment--at the other side of the lobby, out of earshot. When the maid had complied Bill looked down at the register. "Mrs. Harper, Truckee," he repeated. Then, glancing up at the surprised and startled little woman, he asked, "Does your husband happen to drive a green automobile, ma'am?" Mrs. Harper stared at him with the big, frightened eyes of a child. "Why--er--yes. But--why do you ask?" "I met him last night," said Bill. "He's a fast driver, ain't he? Gets to Truckee in two hours!" The color rose to the little woman's face. "I don't see--" "He's a mighty fine feller!" Bill went on, calmly. "Got a pile o' money, too, an' I bet he's some generous with it--specially to them what he loves. People is always makin' fool mistakes. Say, you ain't really goin' to git a divorce, are you?" Now the astonished little woman's eyes filled with angry tears. "Oh!" she gasped. "Oh! How dare you speak to me like this! It's none of your business!" "Sure it is," said Lightnin', his voice kindly, confidential. "I know all about it. He didn't git that present for his stenographer." "How do you know?" she snapped. "I heard him tellin' all about it to Marvin, the boy what sold him that timber up yonder. I knocked," Bill explained, whimsically, "but they didn't seem to hear, an' I was kinder forced to listen in from the outside. Your husband was all het up an' near committin' suicide 'cause you thought he done what he didn't. He told Marvin he bought that present for you when he was in Noo York. He was just a-showin' it to his office lady when you walked in." "Nonsense!" "No, it ain't. It's truth. There's some things I don't go wrong on, an' this is one, Mrs. Harper. Your husband's a mighty fine feller an'--" With a stamp of her foot, the little woman flung away from the desk and, followed by the faithful maid, hurried up-stairs, where--and perhaps Bill suspected this--she buried her head in a pillow and cried and cried. Bill stood at the desk with his head cocked on one side, idly tapping his ear with a pen. He heard the door of Mrs. Harper's room slam and he grinned amiably. "Eatin' her heart out for him," he mused. "Just eatin' her heart out, but too spunky to back down!" He gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling for a few minutes; then slowly he reached into the drawer and took out a telegram blank. His eyes twinkled as he wrote a brief message. He folded up the blank, stuffed it into his pocket, and was turning away from the desk with the intention of seeking the telegraph-office, when Hammond and Sheriff Blodgett came strolling back into the lobby.