Mr. Hartley waited a moment, then observed with a smile:
"You seem to be looking for some one to-night, Miss Cordelia. Didn't I hear you asking Mr. Boynton and Joe Wetherby if they knew John somebody or other?"
Again a pink flush spread over Cordelia's face, "Yes, sir; I am looking for somebody—four somebodies."
"You don't say! Found them yet?"
She shook her head. To the man's surprise and distress, her eyes filled with tears.
"No, Mr. Hartley, and that's what's the trouble. That's why I'm trying so hard to-night to ask all these people—there's such a little time left!"
"Time—left?"
"Yes. I'd like to tell you about it, please. I think I may tell you. Of course I haven't said a word to the girls, because the people—back in Sunbridge—didn't want me to talk about it. I'm looking for John Sanborn, Lester Goodwin, James Hunt, and Mrs. Lizzie Higgins. They're all Sunbridge people who came to Texas years ago, and are lost."
Mr. Hartley gave a sudden exclamation.
"Did you say—Lester Goodwin was one?" he asked.