hing
more to tell you," he said dryly.

The girl thanked him with a gesture. "I want you to supply the most
important part," she said, and the lad, saying nothing, changed color
under the glance she cast upon him. "You do not seem willing. Then
perhaps I had better do it for you. There were two men from Silverdale
directly concerned in the affair, and one of them at no slight risk to
himself did a very generous thing. That one was Mr. Courthorne. Did
you see him lay a single stake upon a card, or do anything that led you
to suppose he was there for the purpose of gambling that evening?"

"No," said the lad, seeing she knew the truth, and his hoarse voice was
scarcely audible.

"Then," said Maud Barrington, "I want you to tell us what you did see
him do."

Ferris said nothing, and though the girl laughed a little as she
glanced at the wondering group, her voice was icily disdainful.

"Well," she said, "I will tell you. You saw him question a
professional gambler's play to save a man who had no claim on him from
ruin, and, with only one comrade to back him, drive the swindler, who
had a pistol, from the field. He had, you admit, no interest of any
kind in the game."

Ferris had grown crimson again, and the veins on his forehead showed
swollen high. "No," he said almost abjectly.

Maud Barrington turned from him to her hostess as she answered, "That
will suffice, in the meanwhile, until I can decide whether it is
desirable to make known the rest of the tale. I brought the new song
Evelyn wanted, Mrs. Macdonald, and I will play it for her, if she would
care to try it."

She moved away with the elder lady, and left the rest astonished to
wonder what had become of Ferris, who was seen no more that evening,
while presently Winston came in.

His face was a trifle weary, for he had toiled since the sun rose above
the rim of the prairie and when the arduous day was over and those who
worked for him were glad to rest their aching limbs, had driven two
leagues to Macdonald's. Why he had done so, he was not willing to
admit, but he glanced around the long room anxiously as he came in, and
his eyes brightened as they rested on Maud Barrington. They were,
however, observant eyes, and he noticed that there was a trifle more
color than usual in the girl's pale-tinted face, and signs of
suppressed curiosity about some of the rest. When he had greeted his
hostess he turned to one of the men.

"It seems to me you