rs was warranty sufficient that this was the man who had met
the strange young lady on the highway early that morning.

At sight of him Mr. Ransom felt that inner recoil which we all experience
at the prospect of an immediate and definite termination of a long
brooding doubt. In another instant and with one word this uncultured and
hitherto unknown man would settle for him the greatest question of his
life. And he did not feel prepared for it. He had an impulse almost of
flight, as if in this way he could escape a certainty he feared. What
certainty? Perhaps he could not have answered had he been asked. His mind
was in a turmoil. He had feelings--instincts; that was all.

The lawyer, noting his condition, undertook the leadership of affairs.
Beckoning Mr. Goodenough into Mr. Ransom's room, he softly closed the
door upon the many inquiring ears about, and, assuming the manner most
likely to encourage the unsophisticated but straightforward looking man
with whom he had to deal, quietly observed:

"We hear that you met this morning a young girl going towards the Ferry.
There is great reason why we should know just how this young girl looks.
A lady disappeared from here last night, and though, from a letter she
left behind her, we have every reason to believe that her body is
somewhere in the river, yet we don't want to overlook the possibility
of her having escaped alive in another direction. Can you describe the
person you saw?"

"Wa'al, I'm not much good at talk," was the embarrassed, almost halting
reply. "I saw the gal and I remember just how she looked, but I couldn't
put it into words to save my soul. She was pretty and chipper and walked
along as if she was part of the mornin'; but that don't tell you much,
does it? Yet I don't know what else to say. P'raps you could help me
by asking questions."

"We'll see. Was she light-complexioned? Yellow hair, you know, and blue
eyes?"

"No; I don't think she was. Not what I call light. My Sal's light; this
gal wasn't like my Sal."

"Dark, then, very dark, with a gipsy color and snapping black eyes?"

"No, not that either. What I should call betweens. But more dark than
light."

Harper flashed a glance at Ransom before putting his next question.

"What did she have on her head?"

"Bless me if I can tell! It wasn't a sun-bonnet, nor was it slapped all
over with ribbons and flowers like my darter's."

"But she had some sort of hat on?"

"Sartain. Did you think sh