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recounted my conversation with the general manager aboard the Ginery Twitchell . McCarty listened patiently, and had a few questions of a scientific nature about the helio storms, which I could not answer.
    â€œPerhaps it will clear by morning,” McCarty said.
    I smiled.
    â€œLet us hope,” I said.
    But it wasn’t hope that tugged at my guts.
    â€œHere,” he said, handing me the key. “You said you’d take this, and Mackie’s going to hold you to it.”
    I said good night to McCarty, then walked down the street to the agency. Calder was inside, with his boots up on his desk, the toes so close to the lighted lamp I was afraid he would knock it over.
    â€œYou left the door unlocked,” he said.
    â€œThere was some excitement.”
    â€œI’ve heard,” he said. “And seen the lights in the sky. It is all mighty queer.”
    â€œYes,” I said, opening the bottom drawer of the desk and dropping the key inside.
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œA hunk of brass that speaks for the dead,” I said, easing myself into my chair. “A haunted telegraph key. Does the phrase ‘Avail Speedwell’ mean anything to you?”
    â€œAre you speaking English?”
    â€œI’ll take that for a no,” I said. “It’s on the telegraph key, Jack.”
    â€œYou were in no danger?” he asked.
    â€œNothing to speak of.”
    â€œWhenever you say that, Ophelia, it makes me nervous.”
    â€œI am in one piece, Jack,” I said.
    â€œAnd I am glad. Have you found a new case?”
    â€œA mystery, perhaps, but no more,” I said.
    Briefly, I described the events of the night.
    â€œMackie is a nervous fellow,” Calder said. “He might have misinterpreted that message about Hopkins being murdered at Florence. As for the dark train, who knows? Considering the confusion with the telegraph service and the operating schedules, a renegade train seems likely.”
    There passed a few moments of silence between us.
    â€œEarp walked down the tracks with you.”
    â€œI told you he did.”
    More silence.
    â€œDid he act peculiar?”
    â€œWhat do you mean by ‘peculiar’?”
    â€œStrange, I reckon,” Calder said. “ Bold would be a better word.”
    â€œYou mean, was he forward with me?” I said. “No, he assumed no liberties, and I offered him none. I do not understand the fuss that Marshal Earp generates in this town. Is it his looks? I have seen no sign that he is in any way exemplary, and he displayed tonight no special dash or daring.”
    â€œHe is a good man in a tight spot.”
    â€œPossibly,” I said. “But his choice of friends is questionable.”
    â€œThe dentist?”
    â€œAmong other things, I understand.”
    â€œHolliday is strung different.”
    â€œI will rely on your word for it,” I said. “And Jack—are you jealous that Earp walked with me down the tracks?”
    Calder laughed.
    â€œJealous?” he asked. “Now, there’s a rare idea. I’ve never had call to be jealous of any man. It is a weak emotion for weak men. A jealous man skulks, while a confident man acts.”
    â€œNice speech,” I said. “Been reading Horatio Alger again?”
    â€œNo,” he said, his feelings riled. “While Ragged Dick is a very instructive book, it is a book for boys. There’s nothing about jealousy in it. My thoughts on the subject are my own.”
    â€œIf it were anyone else protesting so strongly that he was not jealous,” I said, “I would be inclined to think that he was indeed filled with envy.”
    â€œIt’s good then that you don’t think that of me.”
    â€œWe are in perfect agreement,” I said.
    â€œWe could not be more so,” he said.
    Not long after, Calder bid me a chilly good night. I locked the door behind him, then took my lamp and went to the stairs.