was holding the _Free Press_ out towards the dying light and
the man was protesting. The latter is already known to us. His name
was Leslie Grey, now an under-official of the Customs department at
the border village of Ainsley.

"Don't strain your eyes in this light, dear," he was saying. "Besides,
I want to talk to you." He laid his hand upon the paper to take it
from her. But the girl quickly withdrew it out of his reach.

"You must let me look at the personal column, Leslie," she said
teasingly, "I just love it. What do you call it? The 'Agony' column,
isn't it?"

"Yes," the man answered, with some show of irritation. "But I
want----"

"Of course you do," the girl interrupted. "You want to talk to
me--very right and proper. But listen to this."

Grey bit his lip. Prudence bent her face close to the paper and read
in a solemn whisper--

"'Yellow booming--slump in Grey'! Now I wonder what that means? Do you
think it's a disguised love message to some forlorn damsel in the
east, or does it conceal the heartrending cry of a lost soul to some
fond but angry parent?" Then, as the man did not immediately answer,
she went on with a pucker of thought upon her brow. "'Yellow'--that
might mean gold. 'Booming'--ah, yes, the Kootenai mines, or the Yukon.
There is going to be a rush there this year, isn't there? Oh, I
forgot," with real contrition, "I mustn't mention the Yukon, must I?
That is where your disaster occurred that caused you to be banished to
the one-horsed station of Ainsley."

"Not forgetting the reduction of my salary to the princely sum of two
thousand dollars per annum," Grey added bitterly.

"Never mind, old boy, it brought us together, and dollars aren't
likely to trouble us any. But let me get on with my puzzle. 'Slump in
Grey.' That's funny, isn't it? 'Slump' certainly has to do with
business. I've seen 'Slump' in the finance columns of the Toronto
_Globe_. And then 'Grey.' That's your name."

"I believe so."

"Um. Guess I can't make much of it. Seems to me it must be some
business message. I call it real disappointing."

"Perhaps not so disappointing as you think, sweetheart," Grey said
thoughtfully.

"What, do you understand it?" The girl at once became all interest.

"Yes," slowly, "I understand it, but I don't know that I ought to tell
you."

"Of course you must. I'm just dying of curiosity. Besides," she went
on coaxingly, "we are going to be married, and it wouldn't be right to
have