"If he needs my help I shall always give it; " and he knew that she meant what she said. Through this long journey he had taken comfort in the thought that at least he was insuring her safety from Ducane. Now, seeing what he had done, and seeing himself helpless, he had no words to say.
"On the day you came in I wired Grey Wolf Barracks for the arrest of the girl called Grange's Andree," said the Commissioner, turning over the papers on his desk, Sergeant Jones' reply came in an hour ago."
He paused, and Dick answered with his mechanical, "Yes, sir." He had neither thought nor care to spare for Andree at this moment.
"Sergeant Jones says that full inquiries have been made concerning the girl," went on the Commissioner, picking up a telegraph-form. "She is not in Grey Wolf. It has been ascertained that she went North, probably on the Peace, with two nuns who were going in to Fort Vermilion just before the rivers shut down."
"Went North! Andree!" Dick was startled into sudden attention. "She must have had word of this," he said.
"Ah!" The Commissioner leaned forward. "Why should you think that?"
"Why—she has always had a superstition against the North. She used to say that she would never come back if she once went down there"
"You know her, then?"
"Yes, sir."
"Ah! How do you suggest that she might have been warned?"
"I don't know. Yes, I do. Ducane likely talked about the matter to someone and word got round to her. There has been plenty of time. It is over a year since he had the paper."
"I see. Then you think that she has gone North in order to escape?"
"Very probably," said Dick.
"I see." The Commissioner sat back in his chair, frowning at the wall.
"This complicates the affair," he said. "She has had
