done to you? And why SHOT? They're ever so much harder than peas."

Seeing only the mischievous, laughing face before him, and the open palm
containing the damning evidence of the broken Eley's cartridge, Jeff
stammered out the truth.

"I found the slipper in the bear-skin, Miss Mayfield. I put it in my
trunk to keep, thinking yer wouldn't miss it, and it's being a kind
of remembrance after you're gone away--of--of the night you came here.
Somebody moved the trunk in my room," and he hung his head here. "The
things inside all got mixed up."

"And that made you change your mind about keeping it?" said Miss
Mayfield, still smiling.

"No, miss."

"What was it, then?"

"I gave it back to you, Miss Mayfield, because I was going away."

"Indeed! Where?"

"I'm going to find another location. Maybe you've noticed," he
continued, falling back into his old apologetic manner in spite of his
pride of resolution--"maybe you've noticed that this place here has no
advantages for a hotel."

"I had not, indeed. I have been very comfortable."