“Wasn’t you goin’ to ask her to the dance at Silverton?”
“Oh!”
Harp rubbed his long nose and reflected deeply, with both eyes closed. Then—
“But you said she was goin’ with Sam Leach.”
“I didn’t say she was goin’ with him, Harp. I said that he asked her to go with him. She told him that she had already been invited.”
“By whom had she been invited—by whom?” asked Harp.
“I don’t think she has been invited by any one, Harp. I know she didn’t want to go with Leach; so that was her excuse.”
Mrs. Wesson bustled on down the sidewalk, leaving Harp looking after her. He cuffed his hat over one ear and hitched up his belt, as he headed for the office. He wanted to find a place where he could sit down alone, because his soul was filled with joy and he wanted to express his feelings with music.
It was nearly supper-time when Brick and Soapy drove into Marlin City. Soapy had promised Barney Devine to have the money for the payroll out to the mine by noon the next day, and now he hungered for a session of poker. Brick was stiff and sore from his fall off the grade, but he got a bite to eat at the restaurant, saddled his horse and headed for Silverton.
Brick was certain that someone knew about Soapy going to take the payroll money to the Red Hill mine. Soapy had sworn that no one knew about it, but Brick knew that Soapy was just a trifle absent-minded.