looked thoughtful. "He got home here in Denver at night," he
said, "after telegraphing from New York he was coming; I went to call at
his request--another wire--not a letter--and he saw me in bed. Mr.
Farnham is fond of plenty of light and noise as a rule, but in his
bedroom he had refused to have the electricity turned on, and there was
only a lamp on the table, as far as possible from the bed. I called out,
'How do you do?' in my usual tones, but he answered me almost in a
whisper. There were some important papers which had been waiting for him
to sign, and I had taken them with me, thinking he'd be anxious to
attend to them--he was always so keen and prompt in business--but he
seemed quite angry when I suggested it, and said he wasn't to be
bothered about anything of the sort for a week.

"Next evening I saw him again for a few moments, and there was the same
dim light, the same whispering. He was going away again immediately, he
informed me, and when I objected that he didn't seem up to travelling,
he answered that when there was a lady in the case there was no question
of a man being 'up to' things. I might send his letters to the Santa
Anna Hotel, San Francisco, he went on, until further notice, which I
should receive by telegraph in about ten days if his plans went well.
Just as I was going he said, kind of laughing and yet partly in earnest
too, 'Well, Bennett, if you don't hear from me at the end of that time,
you'd better begin to look me up. The game that I mean to try and win is
a dangerous one. There are others who want the lady beside myself.'

"Now, if there was a town on the face of the earth that Mr. Farnham used
to hate, that town was San Francisco. It was because he hated the
journey, and never wanted to take it again, that he sold his mine out in
California to the English gentleman, Mr. Wildred. I wouldn't have
supposed that there was a woman alive would have got him to go to San
Francisco, and I used to think, too, that Mr. Farnham didn't care much
for women; but no doubt the longer one lives the more one learns, and
the more surprises one gets in such matters. I needn't say much about
his being away from Denver for a few days, even at the office, he hinted
to me; and with that we parted. Next morning early he left, and not a
line have I had except a wire, merely announcing his safe arrival at the
Santa Anna Hotel."

I listened in silence. Before Bennett had finished speaking my thoughts
were far