Part 52 (1/2)
”What--fire?”
”The Yellow Mine burned. It must have caught--when we shot out the lamps ... d.i.c.k Hardman was burned, and a girl they took for you.”
Suddenly Louise leaped up, ghastly pale.
”I remember now... Blink came to my room,” she said hoa.r.s.ely. ”I wouldn't let him in. Then you came... oh, I remember now. I let you in when all the time d.i.c.k Hardman was hiding in my closet.”
”I knew you had him hidden,” rejoined Pan.
”You meant to kill him! The yellow dog!... He came to me when I was sick in bed. He begged me to hide him. And I did.... Then you talked to me, as you're talking now ... Blink came with the whisky. Oh, I see it all now!”
”Sure. And Louie--what did I tell you about Hardman?” returned Pan, sure of his ground now and stern in his forcefulness.
”I don't remember.”
”You told me Hardman said he'd marry you, and that some day when you were drunk you'd do it.”
”Yes, he said that, and I might have agreed, but I don't remember telling you.”
”Well, you did. And then I told you Hardman had forced my sweetheart, Lucy, to marry him.”
”_What_? He did that?”
”Reckon he did. I got there too late. But I drove him off to get a gun. Then he hid there with you.”
”So that was why?” she pondered, as if trying to penetrate the cloudiness of her mind. ”Something comes like a horrible dream.”
”Sure,” he hurried on. ”Let me get it over.... I told you he couldn't marry you when he already had a wife. You went crazy then. You betrayed Hardman.... He came rus.h.i.+ng out of the closet. Pretty nasty, he was, Louie ... well, I left him lying in the hall! I grabbed you--wrapped you in a blanket--and ran out. Blink was waiting. He shot out the lights in the saloon. We got away. The place burned up, with some girl they took for you--and Hardman--”
”My G.o.d! Burned alive?”
”No,” replied Pan hoa.r.s.ely.
”Pan--you--you avenged me--and your Lucy--you?--” she whispered, clinging to him.
”Hus.h.!.+ Don't speak it! Don't ever _think_ it again,” he said sternly.
”That's our secret. Rumor has it he fled from me to hide with you, and you were both burned up.”
”But Lucy--your mother!” she cried.
”They know nothing except that you're my friend's wife--that you've been ill,” he replied. ”They're all kindness and sympathy. Dad never saw you, and Gus will keep his mouth shut. Play your part now, Louise.
You and Blink make up your past. Just a few simple statements....
Then bury the past forever.”
”Oh--I'm slipping--slipping--” she whispered, bursting into tears.
”Help me--back to the wagon.”
She walked a few rods with Pan's arm supporting her. Then she collapsed. He had to carry her to the wagon, where he deposited her, sobbing and limp behind the canvas curtains. Pan pitied her with all his heart, yet he was glad indeed she had broken down. It had been easier than he had antic.i.p.ated.
Then he espied Blinky coming in manifest concern.