on quickly,
plainly embarrassed, endeavoring to conceal his embarrassment by
lighting a cigar.

"It was before the market broke," he went on. "The market is glutted.
The West raised more cattle this season than ever before. There is no
demand and the price had to tumble. A good many cattle owners will be
glad to take twenty, and even fifteen, before long."

"But if there are no cars?" smiled Lawler.

Again he saw Warden's face redden.

"A shortage of cars would mean a shortage of cattle in the East, I
reckon," went on Lawler. "And a shortage of cattle would mean higher
prices for those that got through. But I'm not arguing--nor am I
accepting twenty-five for my cattle. I reckon I'll have to ship my stock
East."

"Well, I wish you luck," said Warden.

He turned his back to Lawler, bending over his desk.

Something in his voice--a hint of mockery tempered with rage--brought
Lawler to a pause as he crossed the threshold of the doorway. He turned
and looked back at Warden, puzzled, for it seemed to him that Warden was
defying him; and he seemed to feel the atmosphere of complacence that
surrounded the man. His manner hinted of secret knowledge--strongly; it
gave Lawler an impression of something stealthy, clandestine. Warden's
business methods were not like Lefingwell's. Lefingwell had been bluff,
frank, and sincere; there was something in Warden's manner that seemed
to exude craft and guile. The contrast between the two men was sharp,
acute, startling; and Lawler descended the stairs feeling that he had
just been in contact with something that crept instead of walking
upright like a man.

A recollection of the woman he had met at the foot of the stairs came to
Lawler as he descended, and thought of her did much to erase the
impression he had gained of Warden. He grinned, thinking of how he had
caught her watching him as he had mounted the stairs. And then he
reddened as he realized that he would not have known she was watching
him had he not turned to look back at her.

He found himself wondering about her--why she had been in Warden's
office, and who she could be. And then he remembered his conversation
with Blackburn, about "chapper-owns," and he decided she must be that
woman to whom Blackburn had referred as "a woman at Lefingwell's old
place, keepin' Warden company." He frowned, and crossed the street,
going toward the railroad station building, in which he would find the
freight agent.

And as he walke