his poor
wife. "I wish you'd give up chasin' people down."

"May I have a look at the letter, Mr. Crow?" asked Bonner. Anderson
stealthily drew the square envelope from his inside pocket and passed it
over.

"They've got to git up purty early to ketch me asleep," he said proudly.
Bonner drew the enclosure from the envelope. As he read, his eyes
twinkled and the corners of his mouth twitched, but his face was
politely sober as he handed the missive back to the marshal. "Looks like
a trap, don't it?" said Anderson. "You see there ain't no signature.
The raskils were afraid to sign a name."

"I wouldn't say anything to Miss Gray about this if I were you, Mr.
Crow. It might disturb her, you know," said Bonner.

"That means you, too, Eva," commanded Anderson in turn. "Don't worry the
girl. She mustn't know anything about this."

"I don't think it's a trap," remarked Eva as she finished reading the
missive. Bonner took this opportunity to laugh heartily. He had held it
back as long as possible. What Anderson described as an "ananymous"
letter was nothing more than a polite, formal invitation to attend a
"house warming" at Colonel Randall's on the opposite side of the river.
It read:

"Mr. and Mrs. D.F. Randall request the honour of your presence at a
house warming, Friday evening, January 30, 190--, at eight o'clock.
Rockden-of-the-Hills."

"It is addressed to me, too, Anderson," said his wife, pointing to the
envelope. "It's the new house they finished last fall. Anonymous letter!
Fiddlesticks! I bet there's one at the post-office fer each one of the
girls."

"Roscoe got some of the mail," murmured the marshal sheepishly. "Where
is that infernal boy? He'd oughter be strapped good and hard fer holdin'
back letters like this," growled he, eager to run the subject into
another channel. After pondering all evening, he screwed up the courage
and asked Bonner not to tell any one of his error in regard to the
invitation. Roscoe produced invitations for his sister and Rosalie. He
furthermore announced that half the people in town had received them.

"There's a telegram comin' up fer you after a while, Mr. Bonner," he
said. "Bud's out delivering one to Mr. Grimes, and he's going to stop
here on the way back. I was at the station when it come in. It's from
your ma, and it says she'll be over from Boggs City early in the
morning."

"Thanks, Roscoe," said Bonner with an amused glance at Rosalie; "you've
save