Lone had made it a point to mind his own business, always.

He had never asked questions, he had never surmised or gossiped.

So Hawkins gave him a check for his wages and let him go with no more than a foreman's natural reluctance to lose a trustworthy man.
By hard riding along short cuts, Lone reached the Quirt ranch and dropped reins at the doorstep, not much past mid-afternoon.
"I rode over to see if there's anything I can do," he said, when Lorraine opened the door to him.

He did not like to ask about her father, fearing that the news would be bad.
"Why, thank you for coming." Lorraine stepped back, tacitly inviting him to enter.

"Dad knows us to-day, but of course he's terribly hurt and can't talk much.