Redwood Boulevard. After aiding the lady to alight, Cardigan talked
with her a few minutes at the gate, then bade her good-night and
after waiting until she had disappeared inside the front door,
returned to the automobile and was driven to his home, while the
chauffeur George ran the car into the Cardigan garage.

Upon returning to Hotel Sequoia, found O. in hotel bar. Saw him to
bed at 10 sharp.

Needless to relate, this report had a most amazing effect upon
Colonel Pennington, and when at length he could recover his mental
equilibrium, he set about quite calmly to analyze the report, word by
word and sentence by sentence, with the result that he promptly
arrived at the following conclusion:

(1) His niece Shirley Sumner was not to be trusted in so far as young
Bryce Cardigan was concerned. Despite her assumption of hostility
toward the fellow since that memorable day in Pennington's woods, the
Colonel was now fully convinced that she had made her peace with him
and had been the recipient of his secret attentions right along. The
Colonel was on the verge of calling his niece up to demand an
explanation, but on second thought decided to wait a few days and see
what his gum-shoe men might have to report further.

(2) The N. C. O. was still a mystery, but a mystery in which Bryce
Cardigan was interested. Moreover, he was anxious to aid the N. C. O.
in every way possible. However, the Colonel could understand this.
Cardigan would aid anything that might possibly tend to lift the
Cardigan lumber interests out from under the iron heel of Colonel
Pennington and he was just young enough and unsophisticated enough to