On the following Monday, Armstrong received a telephone request from Mansfield that he send Wren over to the latter's office at once. The lawyer was curt and noncommittal, or so Armstrong fancied. Wren did not return before Armstrong left for home, nor was there any chance to see Wren in the morning, for the Demings were to arrive by an early train and Armstrong motored in with Dorothy to meet them. His worry had redoubled.
The train was late. Armstrong left Dorothy at the train exit and went to a telephone booth. He called the office, discovered that Jimmy Wren was out—and that Robert Dorns had left a call there for him. Two minutes later he thrilled to the voice of Dorns.
"Hello, Armstrong! Can you come over to Mansfield's office at three this afternoon?"
"You bet! Any news?"
"Nope. I'll have some by that time, though. So long."
When Armstrong rejoined Dorothy before the train exit, her eyes widened at sight of his radiant face. She seized his arm eagerly.
"Reese! What is it? Good news?"'
He smiled. "Conference this afternoon with Dorns and Mansfield."
"Now! Aren't you ashamed of the way you've worried? Reese, there's something that has just occurred to me. You remember Muirhead, that Western man we met at the Grays' on Christmas day—the one who was telling about the Stockmen's Protective Association? I think that was the name of his cattle organization—"
Armstrong nodded. "Sure. What about it?"