“I am Solange d’Albret, monsieur. I am from the Basses Pyrenees. A Basque, if you please. If my name is distinguished, I am not. On the contrary, I am very poor, having but enough to finance this trip to America and the search that is to follow.”
“And Avalon—where is that? Where is the place that you go to in America?”
She opened a small hand bag and took from it a notebook which she consulted.
“America is a big place. It is not likely that you would know it, or the man that I must look for. Here it is. The place is called ‘Twin Forks,’ and it is near the town of Sulphur Falls, in the State of Idaho. The man is Monsieur Isaac Brandon.”
In the silence, she looked up, alarmed to see De Launay, who was clutching the edge of the table and staring at her as though she had struck him.
“Why, what is the matter?” she cried.
De Launay laughed out loud. “Twin Forks! Ike 65 Brandon! Mademoiselle, what do you seek in Twin Forks and from old Ike Brandon?”
Mademoiselle, puzzled and alarmed, answered slowly.
“I seek a mine that my father found—a gold mine that will make us rich. And I seek also the name of the man that shot my father down like a dog. I wish to kill that man!” 66