Cooly, yet without in the least comprehending how best to proceed, Keith drew toward him the only chair in the room, and sat down. Miss Hope—more widely known as Christie Maclaire—had claimed this drunken lad as her brother, but, according to Hawley, he had vehemently denied any such relationship. Yet there must be some previous association between the two, and what this was the plainsman proposed to discover. The problem was how best to cause the fellow to talk frankly—could he be reached more easily by reference to the girl or the gambler? Keith studying the sullen, obstinate face confronting him, with instinctive antagonism over his intrusion, swiftly determined on the girl.
“It was not very nice of me to come in on you this way,” he began, apologetically, “but you see I happen to know your sister.”
“My sister? Oh, I guess not!”
“Yes, but I do,” throwing a confidence into his tone he was far from feeling, “Miss Hope and I are friends.”
The boy sprang to his feet, his face flushed.
“Oh, you mean Hope? Do you know her? Say, I thought you were giving me that old gag about Christie Maclaire.”
“Certainly not; who is she?”
“That's more than I know; fellow came to me at Carson, and said he'd met my sister on a stage west of Topeka. I knew he was lyin', because she's home over in Missouri. Finally, I got it out of him that she claimed to be my sister, but her name was Maclaire. Why, I don't even know her, and what do you suppose she ever picked me out for her brother for?”
He was plainly puzzled, and perfectly convinced it was all a mistake. That his sister might have left home since he did, and drifted West under an assumed name, apparently never occurred to him as possible. To Keith this was the explanation, and nothing could be more natural, considering her work, yet he did not feel like shattering the lad's loyalty. Faith in the sister might yet save him.
“Perhaps the fellow who told you,” he hazarded blindly, speaking the first thought which came to his mind, “had some reason to desire to make you think this Maclaire girl was your sister.”