The Forbidden Trail

Charley nodded. "I know. Just put it down to female curiosity."

Roger laughed and went lazily over to the living tent, returning shortly with a tin document box. This he unlocked and ran rapidly, then again carefully, through the papers it contained.

"Ern must have them," he said finally. "Come to think of it, he just spoke of them but didn't give them back to me. They must be in his box."

"To which you have no access?"

Roger shook his head, still eyeing Charley with undisguised curiosity.

Charley drew a long breath. "Roger, there's something about this deal I don't like. Ernest is so queer, and Elsa is worried and absentminded. And every time I try to say anything about Ernest's salesmanship she takes my head off. And you know what good friends she and Ernest are normally. They never row each other. But now they're always quarreling in undertones. I would think Ernest was sore about Elsa and Dick's engagement if Ernest hadn't told me before her and Dick that he thought Elsa was foolish but that he washed his hands of the matter."

"Nevertheless that's probably what the worry is about," said Roger.

"No, it's not," very decidedly. "This noon they were at it again, in the kitchen, while I was in my bedroom. I tried not to hear them but all of a sudden Ernest shouted, 'I don't see why I told you! You've done nothing but nag me, ever since. Werner's all right and what difference does it make whether I got the money from him or the Smithsonian?' I went right out and told them what I had overheard and asked them to be more careful. Ernest merely said they were talking of a family matter and Elsa burst into tears and walked away."

Roger laid his pipe down with a scowl. "Pshaw, Charley, you're foolish! What could be Ernest's object in deceiving me? He's as honest as daylight. He knew I was desperate and wouldn't care where he got the money as long as there were no strings to it."

Charley flushed painfully. "I don't blame you for feeling that way. That's why I wanted to see the papers in the matter."

"And why should Werner," asked Roger, "put money into a thing he never saw, when--Oh rot, Charley! I thought you had a mind like a nice fellow--above such hen rubbish."

"My mind is feminine through and through," returned Charley. "I knew you'd scold me. But promise me one thing--that you'll ask Ernest to let you see the contracts."

"I'll do that, of course. I should have done it before. That's being only businesslike."