"It stopped soon afterwards," Lister replied. "She wanted to get off and go East; the train was bound West, but we were held up at a side-track, and I put her on board a gravel train locomotive."
"Then she went East!" said Vernon thoughtfully, and studied the other.
Lister sat with his head thrown back and the sun on his brown face. His look was calm and frank; his careless pose brought out the lines of his thin but muscular figure. Vernon felt he was honest; he knew Lister's type.
"She went off on board our construction locomotive," Lister replied.
"But I don't see yet! Why did you meddle? Why did she give you her confidence?"
"She didn't give me her confidence," Lister said, and smiled. "She wanted to get away and I helped. That's all. It's obvious I wasn't out for a romantic adventure, because I put her off the train."
Vernon nodded. Lister's argument was sound; besides, he did not look like a philanderer.
"Then you don't know who she is?"
"I don't know. She didn't put me wise and my business was not to bother her."
"What was she like? Did you guess her age? How was she dressed?"