Once he paused, glancing toward where she sat, her face buried in her arms across the chair-back.

Then he smoothed out the wrinkles, and read slowly, studying over each pencil-written, ill-spelled word, every crease and stain leaving an impression upon his brain: "SAN JUAN, COL., DEC.

12, 1904.
"Deer Miss: I see your name agin in a Denver paper what Bill brought out frum town ternight, an read thar that you wus goin ter play a piece in Chicago.

I aint seen yer name in ther papers afore fer a long time.
So I thot I 'd write yer a line, cause Bill thinks yer never got it straight bout ther way Biff Farnham died.

He ses thet you an Mister Winston hes got ther whol affair all mixed up, an that maybe it's a keepin ther two of yer sorter sore on each other.