t a lady of fibbing."

He shook his head. "I wish you'd tell me, Miss Grierson. I'm in pretty
bad on this thing, and if----"

"I can tell you what to do, if that will help you."

"It might," he allowed.

"Go away and take some other commission. It's a cold trail, Mr.
Broffin."

"But you won't say that Griswold isn't the man?"

"It is not for me to say. But Miss Farnham says he isn't, and Mr.
Galbraith--you tried him, didn't you? What more do you want?"

"I want _you_ to say he isn't; then I'll go away."

"You may put me in jail for contempt of court, if you like," she jested.
"I refuse to testify. But I will tell you what you asked to know--if
that will do any good. Every word of the story about Mr. Griswold--the
story that you overheard, you know--was true; every single word of it.
Do you suppose I should have dared to embroider it the least little
bit--with you sitting right there at my back?"

"But you did think for a while that he might be the man--what?"

"Yes; I did think so--for a while."

Broffin got up and took a half-burned cigar from the ledge of the
summer-house where he had carefully laid it at the beginning of the
interview.

"You've got me down," he confessed, with a good-natured grin. "The man
that plays a winnin' hand against you has got to get up before sun in
the morning and hold _all_ trumps, Miss Grierson--to say nothin' of
being a mighty good bluffer, on the side." Then he switched suddenly.
"How's Mr. Galbraith this morning?"

"He is very low, but he is conscious again. He has asked us to wire for
the cashier of his bank to come up."

Broffin's eyes narrowed.

"The cashier is sick and can't come," he said.

"Well, some one in authority will come, I suppose."

Once more Broffin was thinking in terms of speed. Johnson, the paying
teller, was next in rank to the cashier. If he should be the one to come
to Wahaska....

"If you haven't anything else for me to do, I reckon I'll be going," he
said, hastily, and forthwith made his escape. The telegraph office was a
good ten minutes' walk from the lake front, and in the light of what
Miss Grierson had just told him, the minutes were precious.

Something less than a half-hour after Broffin's hurried departure, Miss
Grierson, coated and gauntleted, came down the Mereside carriage steps
to take the reins of the big trap horse from Thorsen's hands. Contrary
to her usual custom, she avoided Main Street and drove around past the
college