.

Interviewing Willoughby.
Cooly, yet without in the least comprehending how best to proceed, Keith drew toward him the only chair in the room, and sat down.

Miss Hope--more widely known as Christie Maclaire--had claimed this drunken lad as her brother, but, according to Hawley, he had vehemently denied any such relationship.

Yet there must be some previous association between the two, and what this was the plainsman proposed to discover.
The problem was how best to cause the fellow to talk frankly--could he be reached more easily by reference to the girl or the gambler?
Keith studying the sullen, obstinate face confronting him, with instinctive antagonism over his intrusion, swiftly determined on the girl.
"It was not very nice of me to come in on you this way," he began, apologetically, "but you see I happen to know your sister." "My sister?
Oh, I guess not!" "Yes, but I do," throwing a confidence into his tone he was far from feeling, "Miss Hope and I are friends." The boy sprang to his feet, his face flushed.
"Oh, you mean Hope?
Do you know her?
Say, I thought you were giving me that old gag about Christie Maclaire." "Certainly not; who is she ?" "That's more than I know; fellow came to me at Carson, and said he'd met my sister on a stage west of Topeka.

I knew he was lyin', because she's home over in Missouri.