"I see, I see," said Cavanaugh, slowly. "Well, Joel, I hardly know what is right to do in a matter as delicate as this is, but still right is right, and if there is anybody in the world that ought to know the truth about this, why, it is you and Tilly. Joel, the truth is, John Trott and Dora are both still alive." "Then, then, _it is true_?" "Yes, Joel; I've just had a letter from John and he wants the facts known. But I don't see that there is any reason for you to be disturbed. You see, the law parted John and Tilly years ago, and even if it hadn't, his long desertion (we'll call it that) would have amounted to the same in any court." Like an automaton which all but creaked in its joints, Joel took up his reins. Tapping his thin horse with his whip and making a clucking sound between his teeth, he turned his wagon around. "Wait! You haven't been paid yet," Cavanaugh cried, holding out a bill. Pausing, a flurried, far-away look in his eyes, Joel took the money. "Thank you--thank you," he ejaculated. "So there's no doubt about it? Did you actually see him, Mr. Cavanaugh--with your own eyes, I mean? I don't want any hearsay or second-hand report. I want the truth--the facts." "I spent a week with him, Joel." Eperson wound the lines around his left hand and brought his desperate eyes back to Cavanaugh's face. "There is one thing more," he gulped, his hand at his throat. "Is he--is John Trott a--a married man?" "No, Joel; he's single. Marrying didn't seem to be--well, exactly in his line. His time has been taken up with a growing business, his books, a pet dog, and Dora. She was like a loving sister, I understand, till she married a man she loved and moved out of the country. John is a sort of--well, you might say a sort of stay-at-home, soured old bachelor that never took much to women. At least that's the way I size him up. He makes plenty of money, and has laid up some, but I don't think he cares much for it. He's odd--a sort of deep-feeling fellow--different from the general run of men." In a nervous sort of movement Joel wiped his lips with his hand. "There is a thing I'd like to know," he said, slowly, impressively, frankly. "You say he is single, and that makes me wonder. Mr. Cavanaugh, truth is truth, and, as you say, right is right; would you mind telling me whether you think he has--has changed--well, in regard to his--his feeling toward Tilly?" "You are asking me a ticklish question," Cavanaugh said, with a start and a dropping of his honest eyes. "You see, John never came right out and talked plain on that line, and--" "I was only asking for your _personal_ opinion," emphasized Joel; "in talking with him did you gather that--that his sentiments had undergone no change since he left here?"