"Laure."
"Laure what?"
"Just Laure—for the present."
"Humph! You're one of this—theatrical company, I presume." He indicated the singers across the room.
"Yes. Morris Best hired us to work in his place at Dawson."
"I remember your outfit at Sheep Camp. Best was nearly crazy—"
"He's crazier now than ever." Laure smiled for the first time and her face lit up with mischief. "Poor Morris! We lead him around by his big nose. He's deathly afraid he'll lose us, and we know it, so we make his life miserable." She turned serious abruptly, and with a candor quite startling said, "I like you."
"Indeed!" Pierce was nonplussed.
The girl nodded. "You looked good to me when you came in. Are you going to Dawson?"
"Of course. Everybody is going to Dawson."