"No," she said; "I have not acquired rheumatism as yet, Mr. Jones. I'll register—you're reserving a room for me."
"How long you here for?" Bill asked.
"The usual," she sighed, and rolled her eyes toward Townsend.
"Eh?" Bill grinned and walked slowly from behind the desk.
"Six months," she drawled, wearily.
Politely staying her hand and taking the pen from her, Bill pointed to the other desk. "This is the six months' side—over here," he said, sauntering to the back of the Nevada desk.
When the lady was at last settled in her room, and Townsend had left—having made an arrangement to dine with Mrs. Davis that evening—Bill found himself strangely alone for the moment. Instantly he seized on the opportunity to make a thorough investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a half-filled flask. After turning the Nevada desk inside out, at last he was convinced that the disappearance was a fact and not a matter of imagination. "Guess mother has seequesterated it," he remarked, to himself. "Not that I'm hankerin' after it so much myself, but I told Zeb I had it, an' when he finds that I 'ain't, the moral effect on Zeb will sure be bad."
As Bill, rolling a cigarette, meditated on this, Mrs. Harper, followed by her maid and still casting about like a frightened bird in search of cover, tiptoed into the lobby, went uncertainly to the California desk and took up a pen.
Wisdom twitching at the corners of his mouth, Bill was beside her at once.
"Is either o' you ladies gettin' a divorce?" he inquired, in a helpful tone, his question including the indignant maid. "'Cause, if you are," he explained, "I just wanted to let you know that you are flockin' round the wrong desk."