Hastening into the post office, he stood betraying his impatience by his very impassiveness while a sallow-faced woman tossed the letters out upon the counter.

At last she took up two of them, and the man's fingers trembled a little as he stretched out his hand when she said: "That's all there are for you." Winston recognized the writing on the envelopes, and it was with difficulty he held his eagerness in check, but other men were waiting for his place, and he went out and crossed the street to the hotel where there was light to read by.

As he entered it a girl bustling about a long table in the big stove-warmed room turned with la little smile.
"It's only you!" she said.

"Now I was figuring it was Lance Courthorne." Winston, impatient as he was, stopped and laughed, for the hotel-keeper's daughter was tolerably well-favored and a friend of his.
"And you're disappointed ?" he said.

"I haven't Lance's good looks, or his ready tongue." The room was empty, for the guests were thronging about the post office then, and the girl's eyes twinkled as she drew back a pace and surveyed the man.