The man asserting himself as Hillward grunted.
"Have you anything to show you are Lawrence Hillward?" Eaton demanded of him.
"Did you tell any one on the train that your name was Hillward before you wanted this telegram?"
It was Harriet Dorne's voice which interposed; and Eaton felt his pulse leap as she spoke for him.
"I never gave any other name than Lawrence Hillward," the other declared.
Connery gazed from one claimant to the other. "Will you give this gentleman the telegram?" he asked Eaton.
"I will not."
"Then I shall furnish him another copy; it was received here on the train by our express-clerk as the operator. I'll go forward and get him another copy."
"That's for you to decide," Eaton said; and as though the matter was closed for him, he resumed his seat. He was aware that, throughout the car, the passengers were watching him curiously; he would have foregone the receipt of the telegram rather than that attention should be attracted to him in this way. Avery was still gazing at him with that look of quiet satisfaction; Eaton had not dared, as yet, to look at Harriet Dorne. When, constraining himself to a manner of indifference, he finally looked her way, she began to chat with him as lightly as before. Whatever effect the incident just closed had had upon the others, it appeared to have had none at all upon her.
"Are you ready to go back to our car now, Harriet?" Avery inquired when she had finished her breakfast, though Eaton was not yet through.