Janet received him alone, her father having retired directly after dinner. To Lefty she seemed prettier than ever, and there was no mistaking her pleasure in seeing him. After the first greetings were over, they sat down on the sofa, each eager to hear all about the other’s doings.
“Father hasn’t been very well all winter,” the girl explained in answer to Lefty’s first question. “You remember my writing to you how he kept catching colds so easily, and couldn’t seem to shake them off? His rheumatism was worse than it had ever been before, too, and I was beginning to get really worried about him when one day, about a week ago, Cyrus King came in, and told father he’d arranged for us to go South and stay till spring. You know that gruff, positive way he has? Well, he’d planned it all out before he said a word to us, insisted on paying our expenses, and wouldn’t even let us thank him. Of course, he has quantities of money, and he and father are such old friends I didn’t mind much taking it from him.”
“It was good of him!” Lefty said warmly. “But how in the world did you happen to pick on Ashland to come to? That’s what I don’t quite understand.”
“We didn’t. At least, that’s not where we’re going to settle down. Doctor Lansing knew about some wonderful mineral springs at Billings, farther south in the State, and advised us to go there. We’ve only stopped off here for a week or ten days to see father’s old friend, Mr. Forsythe.”
Lefty nodded and leaned back, his muscular fingers linked loosely over one knee.
“I see. But what gets me is how you knew I was here. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I got your note. I suppose you must have seen my name in some paper that listed me as one of Brennan’s new recruits.”
She shook her head. Her lips were half smiling, but her eyes were fixed on his face with an odd sort of intentness.
“No,” she returned quietly. “Mr. Elgin told me.”
“Elgin?” Locke repeated incredulously. “You can’t possibly mean Bert Elgin? I know you can’t mean that man!”