and in his own, and, bending, kissed
it.

They talked till late, and when Dicksie walked out on the porch
McCloud followed to smoke. Whispering Smith still sat at the table
talking to Marion, and the two heard the sound of the low voices
outside. At intervals Dicksie's laugh came in through the open door.

Whispering Smith, listening, said nothing for some time, but once she
laughed peculiarly. He pricked up his ears. "What has been happening
since I left town?"

"What do you mean?" asked Marion Sinclair.

He nodded toward the porch. "McCloud and Dicksie out there. They have
been fixing things up."

"Nonsense! What do you mean?"

"I mean they are engaged."

"Never in the world!"

"I may be slow in reading a trail," said Smith modestly, "but when a
woman laughs like that I think there's something doing. Don't you
believe it? Call them in and ask them. You won't? Well, I will. Take
them in separate rooms. You ask her and I'll ask him."

In spite of Marion's protests the two were brought in. "I am required
by Mr. Smith to ask you a very silly question, Dicksie," said Marion,
taking her into the living-room. "Answer yes or no. Are you engaged to
anybody?"

"What a question! Why, no!"

"Marion Sinclair wants to know just one thing, George," said
Whispering Smith to McCloud after he had taken him into the dark shop.
"She feels she ought to know because she is in a way Dicksie's
chaperone, you know, and she feels that you are willing she should
know. I don't want to be too serious, but answer yes or no. Are you
engaged to Dicksie?"

"Why, yes. I----"

"That's all; go back to the porch," directed Whispering Smith. McCloud
obeyed orders.

Marion, alone in the living-room, was waiting for the inquisitor, and
her face wore a look of triumph. "You are not such a mind-reader after
all, are you? I told you they weren't."

"I told you they were," contended Whispering Smith.

"She says they are _not_," insisted Marion.

"He says they are," returned Whispering Smith, "And, what's more, I'll
bet my saddle against the shop they are. I could be mistaken in
anything but that laugh."

CHAPTER XXXIV

A MIDNIGHT VISIT

The lights, but one, were out. McCloud and Whispering Smith had gone,
and Marion was locking up the house for the night, when she was halted
by a knock at the shop door. It was a summons that she thought she
knew, but the last in the world that she wanted to hear or to answer.
Dicksie had go