"All in good time, sir," replied the imperturbable Luther. "Just slide your eye round the ranch before you go in. Not a bad shanty? No; I surmise that poor woman was death on flowers, and hadn't the dollars to start an orchid-house."
"She was poor," said Arnold, a trifle sadly. "Her husband did not allow her much money, she told me; but perhaps he didn't make much."
"Well, a drummer in our land generally can rake in the dollars. Did you ever see this Brand?"
"No," replied Calvert emphatically, "I never did."
Luther looked sideways out of the corner of his eye, and saw that the colour was rising in the young man's face. "Know something about him, maybe. Yes?"
"I know very little," answered Arnold coldly. "Only what Mrs. Brand told me, and she was rather reserved on the subject. Brand, as I learned from her, was a commercial traveller."
"What line did he travel in?"
"I don't know; I never asked. But his business took him away a great deal, and my cousin was left a lot to herself."
"Any children?"
"None. They had been married five or six years, I believe. The fact is," he added, "Mrs. Brand did not speak very kindly of her husband. She seemed to think he was keeping something from her."