"Whatever I say is good enough for Lettice," Gordon
replied.

An expression of relief settled over the other.
"The papers will be ready this week," he said. "I
have taken all that, and some expense, off you.
You will make a nice thing out of it."

"I will," Gordon assented heartily. "And that
reminds me -- I saw an old acquaintance of Pompey
Hollidew's in Greenstream today. I don't know
his name; I drove him up in the stage, and Pompey
greeted him like a long-lost dollar."

A veiled, alert curiosity was plain on Simmons's
smooth, pinkish countenance.

"I wonder if you know him too? -- a man with
a beard, a great hand for maps and cigars."

"Well?" Valentine Simmons temporized.

"Could he have anything to do with those timber
options of the old man's, with your offer for them?"

"Well?" Simmons repeated. His face was now
absolutely blank; he sat turned from his ledgers,
facing Gordon, without a tremor.

"It's no use, Simmons," Gordon Makimmon admitted;
"I was out by the old mill this morning. I
saw you both, heard something that was said. That
railroad will do a lot for values around here, but
mostly for timber."

Instantly, and with no wasted regrets over lost
opportunities, Simmons changed his tactics to meet

[[218]]

p217 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p218w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p219

v?