A gilt sign on the open door advised him of the location of Warden's office.
With one foot on the stairs, ready to ascend, Lawler heard a woman's voice, floating downward, coming from the landing above: "Well, good-bye Gary," said the voice; "I'll see you tonight." Lawler heard a man's voice answering, the words unintelligible to him; then the woman laughed, banteringly.
Then came the sound of a door closing, and the light tread of a woman's foot on the stairs.
Lawler had halted when he heard the woman's voice; he now stepped back in the narrow hallway, against the open door, to give the woman room to pass him.
Turning his back to the stairs, unconcernedly waiting, subconsciously realizing that the woman was descending, he gazed past the station building to see the empty corrals on the other side of the railroad track.

His eyes narrowed with satisfaction--for there would be room for the thousand head of cattle that Blackburn and the other men of the Circle L outfit would bring to Willets in the morning.

There would be no delay, and no camp on the edge of town, awaiting the emptying of the corral.
When he heard the woman's step on the bottom of the stairs he turned and faced her.

She was looking straight at him, and as their eyes met he saw hers widen eloquently.

She half paused as she started to pass him, and it seemed to him that she was about to speak.