Pagina 336 van 439

"You ce'tainly jump to conclusions, Miss Arlie."

"And you let them arrest you, without telling them the truth! And

they came near lynching you! And there's a warrant out now for

your arrest for the murder of Faulkner, while all the time I

killed him, and you knew it!"

He gathered together his lame defense. "You run ahaid too fast

for me, ma'am. Supposing he was hit while we were all there

together, how was I to know who did it?"

"You knew it couldn't have been you, for he wasn't struck with a

revolver. It couldn't have been dad, since he had his shotgun

loaded with buckshot."

"What difference did it make?" he wanted to know impatiently.

"Say I'd have explained till kingdom come that I borrowed the

rifle from a friend five minutes after Faulkner was hit--would

anybody have believed me? Would it have made a bit of

difference?"