She had never been able to discover where her father had hidden his shaving mirror.
When she entered the office a strange scene was presented to her startled gaze.

The sing-song girl, her fiddle broken, was beating her forehead upon the floor and wailing: _Ai, ai! Ai, ai!_ Spurlock--or Taber, as he called himself--sat slumped in a chair, staring with glazed eyes at nothing, absolutely uninterested in the confusion for which he was primarily accountable.

The hotel manager was expostulating and Ah Cum was replying by a series of expressive shrugs.
"What has happened ?" Ruth asked.
"A drunken idea," said Ah Cum, taking his hands out of his sleeves.
"I could not make him understand." "She cannot stay here," the manager declared.
"Why does she weep ?" Ruth wanted to know.
Ah Cum explained.

"She considers her future blasted beyond hope.
Mr.Taber did not leave all his money in the office.

He insisted on buying this girl for two hundred mex.