vestibule and a few moments later he was in the diner where she was
breakfasting.

It was now that the girl first conceived the idea that he might be
following her for a purpose, dogging her footsteps to discover at what
station she left the train. And, when she asked herself why the stranger
should be so greatly concerned with her movements, she remembered that
she was going to Gran'pa Jim and that at one time an officer had
endeavored to discover, through her, her grandfather's whereabouts.

"If this little man," she mused, glancing at his blank, inexpressive
features, "happens to be a detective, and knows who I am, he may think I
will lead him directly to Colonel Weatherby, whom he may then arrest.
Gran'pa Jim is innocent, of course, but I know he doesn't wish to be
arrested, because he left Beverly suddenly to avoid it. And," she added
with a sudden feinting of the heart, "if this suspicion is true I am
actually falling into the trap and leading an officer to my
grandfather's retreat."

This reflection rendered the girl very uneasy and caused her to watch
the fat-nosed man guardedly all through that tedious day. She constantly
hoped he would leave the train at some station and thus prove her fears
to be groundless, but always he remained in his seat, patiently eyeing
the landscape through his window.

Late in the afternoon another suspicious circumstance aroused her alarm.
The conductor of the train, as he passed through the car, paused at the
rear end and gazed thoughtfully at the little man huddled in the rear
seat, who seemed unconscious of his regard. After watching him a while
the conductor suddenly turned his head and looked directly at Mary