"You have answered only half my question."
Mrs. Nairn smiled.
"Alic," she explained, "is reserved by nature; but if ye're anxious for an answer, I might tell ye."
"Anxious hardly describes it."
"Then we'll say curious. The fact is that Vane made a bargain with a sick prospector, in which he undertook to locate some timber the man had discovered away among the mountains. He was to pay the other a share of its value when he got his Government license."
"Is the timber very valuable?"
"No," broke in Nairn. "One might make a fair business profit out of pulping it, though the thing's far from certain."
"Then why is Mr. Vane so determined on finding it?"
The question gave Mrs. Nairn a lead, but she decided to say no more than was necessary.
"The prospector died, but that bound the bargain tighter, in Vane's opinion. The man died without a dollar, leaving a daughter worn out and ill with nursing him. According to the arrangement, his share will go to the girl."