He paused for breath.
“So,” he added, “that’s the situation. If any one reckons that bein’ sheriff of this county is a snap, let him take another think. It’s plantin’ gray hairs in my head fast enough, I tell you; which is maybe because I try to play square and do my whole duty.”
He was on the point of recurring to the subject of the possibility of apprehending Benson and Juniper Joe, when there was a tap on the door that stayed him.
When Buffalo Bill opened the door in answer to the knock he saw a veiled woman.
“May I come in?” she said, looking past him.
But when she was inside and beheld the sheriff she seemed on the point of making a retreat.
“I’ll go, madam,” said Shepard, rising, “if you think you can talk better without me bein’ here.”
“No; stay!” she said, after hesitating. “Perhaps it is just as well that you should hear what I’ve come to say to Mr. Cody.”
Buffalo Bill had put out a chair for her. When she took it she lifted her veil and revealed herself as Vera Bright.