orders regarding you, ma'am," declared the footman, slowly.
"Mr. Starkweather is at 'is club. The young ladies are hat an evening
haffair."

"But auntie--surely there must be _somebody_ here to welcome me?" said
Helen, in more wonder than anger as yet.

"You may come in, Miss," said the footman at last. "Hi will speak to the
'ousekeeper--though I fear she is abed."

"But I have the taxicab driver to pay, and my trunk is here," declared
Helen, beginning suddenly to feel very helpless.

The man had opened the grilled door. He gazed down at the cab and shook
his head.

"Wait hand see Mrs. Olstrom, first, Miss," he said.

She stepped in. He closed both doors and chained the inner one. He pointed
to a hard seat in a corner of the hall and then stepped softly away upon
the thick carpet to the rear of the premises, leaving the girl from Sunset
Ranch alone.

_This_ was her welcome to the home of her only relatives, and to the heart
of the great city!

CHAPTER IX

THE GHOST WALK

Helen had to wait only a short time; but during that wait she was aware
that she was being watched by a pair of bright eyes at a crevice between
the portieres at the end of the hall.

"They act as though I came to rob them," thought the girl from the ranch,
sitting in the gloomy hall with the satchel at her feet.

This was not the welcome she had expected when she started East. Could it
be possible that her message to Uncle Starkweather had not been delivered?
Otherwise, how could this situation be explained?

Such a thing as inhospitality could not be imagined by Helen Morrell. A
begging Indian was never turned away from Sunset Ranch. A perfect
stranger--even a sheepman--would be hospitably treated in Montana.

The soft patter of the footman's steps soon sounded and the sharp eyes
disappeared. There was a moment's whispering behind the curtain. Then the
liveried Englishman appeared.

"Will you step this way, Miss?" he said, gravely. "Mrs. Olstrom will see
you in her sitting-room. Leave your bag there, Miss."

"No. I guess I'll hold onto it," she said, aloud.

The footman looked pained, but said nothing. He led the way haughtily into
the rear of the premises again. At a door he knocked.

"Come in!" said a sharp voice, and Helen was ushered into the presence of
a female with a face quite in keeping with the tone of her voice.

The lady was of uncertain age. She wore a cap, but it did not entirely
hide the fact that her th