Her eyes searched the cottonwood trees along the creek opposite the station, as though she hoped to find him there, searching in the wrong direction for the town which had been described to her.
"Yes, ma'am, if you'll come with me." Ike took up the bag and led the way around the corner of the building into Main Street, while the engineer and fireman hung out of their cab and with the crowd on the platform followed the slim figure with their eyes until it vanished into the crowd at the post-office.
A clerk in the outer room of the Development Company's office building received the queer pair.
"Mr. Wray is in, ma'am, but he's very busy." He looked at her timidly. "I don't know whether he'll see you or not. Who shall I say?"
The lady handed him a card, and, as he disappeared, she fingered in her pocketbook for change—then, after a glance at the station master, smiled at him instead.
"I'm much obliged to you," she said gratefully. "I think I'll stay here now. I'll find my way to the hotel."
Matthews put the bag on a desk, awkwardly removed his hat and departed, while the lady sat and waited.
In the inner office, his head in his hands, his elbows on his desk, his brows bent over some papers, sat Jeff, trying to bring cosmos out of the chaos of his affairs. His clerk entered, the card in his hand, wondering whether he had made a mistake. Hell had been let loose in the Development Company for a week, and Mr. Wray, he knew, was in no humor for interruptions. Jeff looked up with a frown.
"Well—what is it?"
"A lady—to see you."