Part 19 (1/2)

”But--”

”She have land, and she have a part of the lake and a flume site.”

Houston hung back.

”Isn't it a bad bet, Ba'tiste? Have you talked to her?”

”No--I have not seen her since the day--at the flume. She is here--Lost Wing is at the back of the cabin. We will talk to her, you and I. Mebbe, when the spring come, she will lease to you the lake and the flume site. Mebbe--”

”Very well.” But Houston said it against his will. He felt, in the first place, that he would be presuming to ask it of her,--himself a stranger against whom had come the accusation of murder, hardly denied.

Yet, withal, in a way, he welcomed the chance to see her and to seek to explain to her the deadly thrusts which Fred Thayer had sent against him. Then too a sudden hope came; Ba'tiste had said that Agnes Jierdon had become friendly with her; certainly she had told the truth and righted the wrongs of malicious treachery. He joined Ba'tiste with a bound. A moment more and the door had opened, to reveal Medaine, repressed excitement in her eyes, her features a trifle pale, her hand trembling slightly as she extended it to Ba'tiste. Houston she received with a bow,--forced, he thought. They went within, and Ba'tiste pulled his queer little cap from his head, to crush it in the grasp of his ma.s.sive hands.

”We have come for business, Medaine,” he announced, with a slight show of embarra.s.sment. ”M'sieu Houston, he have need for a flume site.”

”But I don't see where I could be of any a.s.sistance. I have no right--”

”Ah! But eet is not for the moment present. Eet is for the springtime.”

She seemed to hesitate then and Houston took a sudden resolve. It might as well be now as later.

”Miss Robinette,” he began, coming forward, ”I realize that all this needs some explanation. Especially,” and he halted, ”about myself.”

”But is that any of my affair?” Her old pertness was gone. She seemed white and frightened, as though about to listen to something she would rather not hear. Houston answered her as best he could:

”That depends upon yourself, Miss Robinette. Naturally, you wouldn't want to have any business dealings with a man who really was all that you must believe me to be. It isn't a pleasant thing for me to talk about--I would like to forget it. But in this case, it has been brought up against my will. You were present a week ago when Thayer accused me of murder.”

”Yes.”

”Eet was a big lie!”

”Wait just a minute, Ba'tiste.” Cold sweat had made its appearance on Barry Houston's forehead. ”I--I--am forced to admit that a part of what he said was true. When I first met Ba'tiste here, I told him there was a shadow in my life that I did not like to talk about. He was good enough to say that he didn't want to hear it. I felt that out here, perhaps I would not be hara.s.sed by certain memories that have been rather hard for me to bear in the last couple of years. I was wrong. The thing has come up again, in worse form than ever and without giving me a chance to make a denial. But perhaps you know the whole story?”

”Your story?” Medaine Robinette looked at him queerly. ”No--I never have heard it.”

”Then you've heard--”

”Only accusations.”

”Is it fair to believe only one side of a thing?”

”Please, Mr. Houston,” and she looked at him with a certain note of pleading, ”you must remember that I--well, I didn't feel that it was any of my business. I didn't know that circ.u.mstances would throw you at all in my path.”

”But they have, Miss Robinette. The land on my side of the creek has been taken from me by fraud. It is absolutely vital that I use every resource to try to make my mill what it should be. It still is possible for me to obtain lumber, but to get it to the mill necessitates a flume and rights in the lake. I've lost that. We've been hoping, Ba'tiste and myself, that we would be able to induce you to lease us your portion of the lake and a flume site. Otherwise, I'm afraid there isn't much hope.”

”As I said, that doesn't become my property until late spring, nearly summer, in fact.”

”That is time enough. We are hoping to be able to bid for the railroad contract. I believe it calls for the first s.h.i.+pment of ties about June first. That would give us plenty of time. If we had your word, we could go ahead, a.s.semble the necessary machinery, snake a certain amount of logs down through the snow this winter and be in readiness when the right moment came. Without it, however, we can hardly hope for a sufficient supply to carry us through. And so--”

”You want to know--about heem. You have Ba'teese's word----”

”Really--” she seemed to be fencing again.