"What man?" demanded the startled Tabitha.
"Well, I don't know who he is, but it is someone I've never seen here in town. He was there this morning, but I didn't think much about it then. We were so excited over the robbery. But this afternoon while the assayer was dragging you out of the prospect hole, and I was watching through your field glasses, I happened to turn them in the direction of the pesthouse, and there he was again, humped up on the doorsill, watching through glasses of his own. When you started off toward town, he hustled into the house and shut the door. Now, it seems to me no one would stay in a pesthouse unless he was hiding from someone."
"No one ever had smallpox there."
"Then why does everyone avoid it so?"
"I don't know. The name, I reckon. It was built for a pesthouse, but the doctors decided the patient didn't have smallpox after all, so the building has never been used."
"Then perhaps he knows there is nothing to be afraid of in the house."
"That may be, of course. Is he there yet?"
"Yes, I think he is. I've kept a close lookout ever since I discovered him, and I haven't seen him leave."
Tabitha seemed lost in thought a moment, then turned an eager face toward her companion. "Gloriana, the reward!"
"Could we?"