to blow up, as you men say it,
over nothing. I had to move, go somewhere, do something; so I came
here. But I came on--what do you call it?--official business. Here!" She
offered him the wallet.

"What's this?"

"Belongs to Johnny Two-Hawks. He hid it that night behind my flatirons
on the range. Why, Cutty, he's rich!"

"Did he show the contents?"

"Only the money and the bonds. He said if he had died the money and
bonds would have been mine.

"Providing Gregor was also dead." Cutty looked into the wallet, but
disturbed nothing. "I imagine these funds are actually Gregor's."

"He told me to give the wallet to you. And so I waited. I fell asleep.
So please don't scold me."

"I'm a brute! But it's because you've become so much to me that I was
angry. You're Tommy and Molly's girl, and I've got to watch out for you
until you reach some kind of a port."

"Thank you for the flowers. You'll never know just what they did for me.
There was somebody who gave me a thought."

"Kitty, I honestly don't get you. A beauty like you, lonesome!"

"That's it. I am pretty. Why should I deny it? If I'd been homely I
shouldn't have been ashamed to invite my friends to my shabby home. I
shouldn't have cold shouldered everybody through false pride. But where
have you been, and what have you been doing?"

"Official business. But I just missed being a fine jackass. I'll look
into the wallet after I've cleaned up. I'm a mess of gore and dust. Is
it interesting stuff?" dreading her answer.

"The wallet? I did not look into it. I had no right."

"Ah! Well, I'll be back in two jigs."

He hurried off, relieved to learn that the secret was still beyond
Kitty's knowledge. Of course Hawksley wouldn't carry anything in the
wallet by which his true identity might be made known. Still, there
would be stuff to excite her interest and suspicion. Hawksley had shown
her some of that three hundred thousand probably. What a game!

He would say nothing about his own adventures and discoveries. He worked
on the theory that the best time to tell about something was after it
had become a fact. But no theory is perfect; and in this instance his
reticence was going to cost him intolerable agony in the near future.

Within a quarter of an hour he was back in the living room. Kitty was
out of sight; probably had curled up on the divan again. He would not
disturb her. Hawksley's wallet! He drew a chair under the reading lamp
and explored the wallet. M