Page:Burton Stevenson--The marathon mystery.djvu/315

Rh “He struck at Tremaine again, but the latter sprang away and in an instant had brought the pipe down upon his head. Thompson fell like a log; then that fiendish look flashed into Tremaine’s face a second time; he snatched out a revolver—I dimly understood what was coming—indeed, I had my own revolver in my hand—and I fired at him; but my shot went wild, while his”

She stopped and buried her face in her hands, overcome for the moment by the terrible spectacle her words had evoked.

She controlled herself by an effort; took down her hands…

“He put his pistol away and stepped over very close to me.”

“‘Miss Croydon,’ he said rapidly, ‘it will be well for you to say you did not know me. I have committed no crime—he was the aggressor—what I did was done in self-defence. One thing more—your sister has nothing to fear from me—I shall never bother her again—I promise you that.’

“He was gone in an instant and then the janitor came and you and the detectives.”

Godfrey nodded thoughtfully.

“That supplies the motive, Lester,” he said. “I have felt that my explanation of the crime was not quite adequate. But it was not only desire for revenge that urged Tremaine on—it was also the knowledge that Thompson knew of his first marriage and threatened, with a word, to wreck his plans a second time.”

“Yes,” I agreed, and sat silent, pondering the story.