t it
mildly, certainly rather unusual. But I had under-estimated both Tip's
keenness and the effect of Roger's big, quiet personality. For Tip
stared hard at his pipe a moment, then at Roger, then back at the
pipe, and said:

"Surely I will, Roger. And be glad to." And there's Tip Elder for you!

We smoked awhile longer in silence. Finally Tip began again in a
casual sort of way, as if, the main question having been settled,
this were a mere detail, but one that he might as well mention.

"How about the name, Roger?" he asked. "Won't that be a little
awkward? At home, you know. I suppose you couldn't wait till you found
it out?"

Roger threw his jaw forward a bit and pursed his mouth, a trick he had
when he was bothered but couldn't see any way out of it.

"No, I couldn't," he said thoughtfully. "In the first place, to tell
you the truth, I don't much believe there's any chance of finding it
out except by pure accident. There's not a scrap of evidence about the
place, and it is undoubtedly intentional. I've opened every book in
her father's room and there are no collections of old litter in any
closet--there's no attic--and not a letter or bill in the house. A
doctor came here once or twice, but he never mentioned her father's
name in her hearing, and this Hester told her he came from New York.
Caliban did the marketing and paid cash for everything. The telegraph
operator, who is the only one I've spoken with in the town, represents
the attitude of everybody there, probably, and he thinks, evidently,
that an eccentric recluse lives here, and that his housekeeper is
pretty close-mouthed and 'unsociable,' as he put it. It's rather
strange that they aren't more curious, but she must have known how to
deal with them, for whatever interest anybody may have felt died out
long ago. They know the man had a daughter and that she's grown now,
but this fellow told me that he'd heard she went barefoot most of the
time, and there was a half rumour that she was feeble-minded, and that
was why they kept so close. He thinks I'm boarding here, apparently. I
suppose that any curious boys or tramps that might have been tempted
over here were frightened off by the dogs--there used to be a pair of
them."

He paused to fill his pipe again and Tip nodded comprehendingly.

"I see," he said, "it's an extraordinary situation, isn't it?"

Another pause, and he added with his eyes carefully off Roger's face:

"This housekeeper, now--you