And then he reddened as he realized that he would not have known she was watching him had he not turned to look back at her.
He found himself wondering about her--why she had been in Warden's office, and who she could be.

And then he remembered his conversation with Blackburn, about "chapper-owns," and he decided she must be that woman to whom Blackburn had referred as "a woman at Lefingwell's old place, keepin' Warden company." He frowned, and crossed the street, going toward the railroad station building, in which he would find the freight agent.
And as he walked he was considering another contrast--that afforded by his glimpse of the strange woman and Ruth Hamlin.

And presently he found himself smiling with pleasure, with a mental picture of Ruth's face before him--her clear, direct-looking, honest eyes, with no guile in them like that which had glowed in the eyes that had gazed into his at the foot of the stairs.
Over in Corwin's store, where "Aunt Hannah," had gone to make some small purchases, the woman who had encountered Lawler in the hall was talking with the proprietor.

Aunt Hannah was watching a clerk.
"Della," she called; "do you want anything ?" "Nothing, Aunty," returned the woman.

Then she lowered her voice, speaking to Corwin: "So he owns the Circle L?
Is that a large ranch ?" "One of the biggest in the Wolf River section," declared Corwin.
"Then Lawler must be wealthy." "I reckon he's got wads of dust, ma'am." The woman's eyes glowed with satisfaction.
"Well," she said; "I was just curious about him.