into town, marry him, and afterward depart and no man know who she was,
whence she had come, or where she had gone. Ford stepped suddenly off
the porch and bored his way through the blizzard toward the depot. The
station agent would be able to answer the last question, at any rate.

The agent, however, proved disappointingly ignorant of the matter. He
reminded Ford that there had not been time to buy a ticket, and that the
girl had been compelled to run down the platform to reach the train
before it started, and that the wheels began to turn before she was up
the steps of the day coach.

"And don't you remember turning around and saying to me: 'I'm a poor
married man, but you can't notice the scar,' or something like that?"
The agent was plainly interested and desirous of rendering any
assistance possible, and also rather diffident about discussing so
delicate a matter with a man like Ford.

Ford drummed his fingers impatiently upon the shelf outside the ticket
window. "I don't remember a darned thing about it," he confessed glumly.
"I can't say I enjoy running all around town trying to find out who it
was I married, and why I married her, and where she went afterwards, but
that's just the kinda fix I'm in, Lew. I don't suppose she came here and
did it just for fun--and I can't figure out any other reason, unless she
was plumb loco. From all I can gather, she was a nice girl, and it seems
she thought I was Frank Ford Cameron--which I am not!" He laughed, as a
man will laugh sometimes when he is neither pleased nor amused.

"I might ask McCreery--he's conductor on Fourteen. He might remember
where she wanted to go," the agent suggested hesitatingly. "And say!
What's the matter with going up to Garbin and looking up the record? She
had to get the license there, and they'd have her name, age, place of
residence, and--and whether she's white or black." The agent smiled
uncertainly over his feeble attempt at a joke. "I got a license for a
friend once," he explained hastily, when he saw that Ford's face did not
relax a muscle. "There's a train up in forty minutes--"

"Sure, I'll do that." Ford brightened. "That must be what I've been
trying to think of and couldn't. I knew there was some way of finding
out. Throw me a round-trip ticket, Lew. Lordy me! I can't afford to let
a real, live wife slip the halter like this and leave me stranded and
not knowing a thing about her. How much is it?"

The agent slid a dark red card