," said Knight, in the calm way which
Annesley had once admired.

Mrs. Waldo would have asked more questions if at that moment her eyes had
not lighted upon a couple at an adjacent table.

"_Well_, of all _things_!" she cried, jumping up to meet a pretty girl
and a spruce young man, who had also jumped up. "George and Kitty Mason!
What a coincidence!"

There were kissings and handshakings. Then Mr. and Mrs. Mason were
introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Smith. They, it seemed, had been
married in the early winter, just as Knight and Annesley had been. And
to add to the strangeness of the coincidence, which drew birdlike
exclamations from Jean Waldo, George and Kitty were starting for Kansas
City that afternoon. They were going by the same train in which the
Nelson Smiths would travel.

"Why, you'll be together for _two days_!" shrieked Jean. "For goodness'
sake, look at your reservations, and see if you're in the same car!"

George Mason pulled out his tickets. "We're in a boudoir car all the
way," he said. "We start in one called 'Elena.' After Chicago we're in
'Alvarado.'" Knight followed suit, not ungraciously, though without
enthusiasm. Annesley's heart was tapping like a hammer in her breast. She
felt giddy. There was a mist before her eyes; yet she saw clearly enough
to see that there were two railway tickets, alike in every way, even to
what seemed their extraordinary length. A flashing glance gave her the
name of the last station, at the end. It was in Texas.

And their two staterooms were also in "Elena" and "Alvarado."

CHAPTER XXIII

THE THIN WALL

"How _dared_ he buy a ticket for me all the way to Texas!" Annesley asked
herself. "But I might have known how it would be," she thought. "Why
expect a man like him to keep a promise?"

Yet she _had_ expected it. She constantly found herself expecting to find
truth and greatness in the man who was a thief--who had been a thief for
half his life. It was strange. But everything about him was strange; and
stranger than the rest was his silent power over all who came near him,
even over herself, who knew now what he was. It would have seemed that
after his confession there would be no further room for disappointment
concerning his character; yet she was disappointed that his "plan," on
which she had been counting, had been nothing more original than to break
his word and "see what she would do."

After luncheon, when the Waldos and Masons became abso