"I thought you were never coming," she said, changing the subject.

"So did I, by George! I thought the fellow'd never go."

"Was it a deputation to say good-bye?"

"Lord, no, Mrs. Gaylor! It was a chap you don't know, I guess. I only ran
up against him lately, since I sold my gusher to the United Oil Company.
He's their lawyer--and does some work for the railroad too. Smart sort of
man he seems to be, though kind of stiff when you first know him: between
forty and forty-five, maybe: name's Henry Morehouse, a brother of a bank
manager in San Francisco."

"James Morehouse the banker is a very rich, important man," said Carmen,
somewhat impressed by the idea of Nick's new friend who had stayed too
long. "I've never met his family myself. You know how close I was kept
till a year ago. But I've heard of them. They're in with the Falconer set
and that lot, so it shows they're smart. What does Henry Morehouse want,
making up to you, Nick?"

"It was oil business brought us together and he seemed to take a sort of
likin' to me. We care about some o' the same things--books and that. Now
he's going East--maybe on more oil business. Anyhow, he proposes we share
a stateroom on the Limited, and he's been recommendin' his hotel in New
York. I was kind of plannin' to be a swell, and hang out at the
Waldorf-Astoria, to see the nobs at home. But his place sounds nice, and I
like bein' with him pretty well. He's lit up with bright ideas and maybe
he'll pass on some to me. His business won't keep him long, he thinks; and
he's promised his brother James to look after a lady who's landing from