"I'll not say, Lane. There's no need for that. I'll give you a key to my rooms, and you can go there--in the afternoons--and paste yourself to my peep-hole, and watch.... Honest to God, I believe it means bloodshed. But I can't help that. Something must be done. I'm not much good, but I can see that." Colonel Pepper wiped his moist face. He was now quite pale and his hands shook. "I never had a wife, or a sweetheart," he went on. "But once I had a little sister. Thank Heaven she didn't live her girlhood in times like these." Lane again bowed his head on his hands, and wrestled with the might of reality. "I'm going to take you to these club-rooms to-night," went on Pepper. "It'll cause a hell of a row. But once you get in, there'll be no help for them. Swann and his chums will have to stand for it." "Did you ever take an outsider in?" asked Lane. "Several times. Traveling men I met here. Good fellows that liked a game of cards. Swann made no kick at that. He's keen to gamble. And when he's drinking the sky's the limit." "Wouldn't it be wiser just to show me these rooms, and let me watch from your place--until I find my sister there?" queried Lane. "I don't know," replied Pepper, thoughtfully. "I think if I were you I'd butt in to-night with me. You can drag young Dalrymple home before he gets drunk." "Pepper, I'll break up this--this club," declared Lane. "I'll say you will. And I'm for you strong. If it was only the booze and cards I'd not have squealed. That's my living. But by God, I can't stand for the--the other stuff any longer!... Come on now. And I'll put you on to a slick stunt that'll take your breath away." He led the way out of the hotel, in his excitement walking rather fast. "Go slow, Pepper," said Lane. "We're not going over the top." Pepper gave him a quick, comprehending look. "Good Lord, Lane, you're not as--as bad as all that!" Lane nodded. Then at slower pace they went out and down the bright Main Street for two blocks, and then to the right on West Street, which was quite comparable to the other thoroughfare as a business district. At the end of the street the buildings were the oldest in Middleville, and entirely familiar to Lane. "Give White's the once over," said Pepper, indicating a brightly lighted store across the street. "That place is new to you, isn't it?" "Yes, I don't remember White, or that there was a confectionery den along here."