“I don’t mind confessing to you that I do,” she admitted in a naïve way that quite amazed him. “I can tell you that your road will never be robbed again by him.”
“Are you serious about that?” he asked. “It seems to me that a young woman of your standing wouldn’t be in a position to——”
“I was never more serious in my life, Mr. Sangerly, and as far as position is concerned, there are no social planes in this great land of sun, sand and silence. We are all human beings, some more fortunate than others, but no better under the skin.”
She met his look with a candor that caused him to gaze ahead, frowning at the road. There was a short silence.
“It—it isn’t possible that you have—influenced him?” he said hesitatingly, after a little.
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t just call it that. I told you how he hid the twenty thousand dollars in my bureau drawer, unknown to me? Well, during the talk I had with him, I asked him if he would do something to repay me for taking care of him. He replied that he would—anything. And I exacted his promise that he would quit leading the life of a bandit. It was all done in one thrilling moment—one midnight. Posses were scouring the country for him at the time. He promised me, as you’ve just promised me. He’s made good. I think he’s magnificent.”
As Lex brought the roadster to a stop before the Miners’ Hotel, he said: “By the way, Billy Gee mentioned Jerome Liggs as though he knew him. Does he happen to be a relative of Mrs. Liggs? She had a son——”
“He is, and I know him.” She regarded Lex intently as she spoke.
“But that was her son’s name. We were kids together—chums.”
“It is he,” she said slowly.