He kissed her, and she yielded, as though there were no need for words between them. "But my letter? My telegram? Why didn't you answer?" Her eyes widened with astonishment. "Your letter! Your telegram!" "You didn't get them?" "Not one." "Who did then?" She shook her head. "No one knew you'd gone but Dr. Harpe." "Dr. Harpe!" "You wrote her!" "I wrote Dr. Harpe?" He stared at her for one incredulous second. "I wrote Dr. Harpe! She said so?" "She said you left a letter for her." There leaped into his steel-gray eyes a look which reminded Kincaid of the play of a jagged flash of lightning. He spoke slowly and enunciated very carefully when he said-- "I knew Dr. Harpe had the instincts of a prying servant, but I scarcely thought she'd go as far as that." "Essie," Kincaid tapped her on the shoulder, "don't forget that your old Uncle Dick is here and waiting to be noticed." He laughed aloud at her confusion and said as he and Van Lennop shook each other's hand-- "Just as I think I'm fixed for life, by George! I'm shoved out in the cold again; for I am forced to believe"--his eyes twinkled as he looked at Van Lennop--"that I am not the only Homeseeker left in Crowheart."