Part 47 (2/2)

With a lurch Miller was free from Jeff and at him again. James lashed straight out and cut open his lip without stopping him. Jeff wrenched the furious man back again. A moment later he made a discovery. The fear of his cousin was not physical.

”Here! Stop it, man! What's the row about?” Jeff hung on with a strangle hold while he fired his questions.

Sam turned a distorted face toward him. ”Nellie.”

The truth crashed home like a bolt of lightning. James was the man who had betrayed Nellie Anderson. The thing was incredible, but Jeff knew instantly it was so.

Except where the blood streamed down it the face of the lawyer was colorless. His lips twitched.

”Is this true, James?”

The sullen eyes of the detected man fell. ”It will ruin me. It will ruin my career. And all because in a moment of fearful temptation I yielded, G.o.d help me.”

”G.o.d help you!” The angry scorn in Miller's voice burned like vitriol.

”G.o.d help you! you selfish villain and coward! You pursued her! You hounded her. You made your own temptation--and hers. And afterward you left her to bear a lifetime of shame--to kill herself if she couldn't stand it. When I think of you, smug liar and h.e.l.l hound, I know that killing isn't good enough for you.”

”Steady, old man,” counseled Jeff.

Miller began to tremble violently. Tears gathered in his eyes and coursed down his fat cheeks. ”And I can't stamp him out. I can't expose him without hurting her worse. I've got to stand it without touching him.”

Faintly Jeff smiled. James did not look quite untouched. He was a much battered statue of virtue, his large dignity for once torn to shreds.

Miller flung himself down heavily in a chair and buried his face in his hands. James began to talk, and as he talked his fluency came back to him.

”It's the only stain on my life record... the only one. My life has been an open book but for that. I was only a boy--and I made a slip. Ought that to spoil my whole life, a splendid career of usefulness for the city and the state? Ought I to be branded for that one error?”

Miller looked up whitely. ”Shut up, you liar! If it had been a slip you would have stood by her, you would have married the girl you had ruined.

But you left her--to death or worse. She was loyal to you. She kept your secret, you d.a.m.ned villain. I wrung it out of her to-day when I went home only by pretending that I knew.... And you let Jeff bear the blame of it without saying a word. I know now why her name wasn't unearthed by the reporters. You killed the story because you were afraid the truth would leak out. You haven't a straight hair in your head. You sold out Jeff's bill. You're for yourself first and last, no matter who pays the price.”

”That's your interpretation of my career. But what does Verden think of me? No man stands higher among the best people of the community.”

”To h.e.l.l with you and your best people. I say you're nothing but a whited sepulchre,” snarled Miller.

Suddenly he reached for his hat and left the office. He was stifling.

He knew that if he stayed he could not keep his hands from his enemy's throat.

James wrung his hands. ”My G.o.d, Jeff, it's awful! To think that a little fault should come out now to ruin me. After I've gone so far and am on the way to bigger things. It's ghastly luck. Can't you do something?

Can't you keep the fellow quiet? I'll pay anything in reason.”

Jeff looked at him steadily. ”I wouldn't say that to him if I were you.”

”Oh, I don't know what I'm saying.” He mopped the blood from his face with a handkerchief. ”I'm half crazy. Did he mark me up badly?” James examined himself anxiously in the gla.s.s. ”He's just chopped my face to pieces. I'll have to get out of the city to-night and stay away till the marks are gone. But the main point is to keep him from talking. Can you do it?”

For once Jeff's toleration failed him. ”He's right. You are a selfish beggar. Don't you ever think of anyone except yourself?”

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