Page:Curwood--The Courage of Captain Plum.djvu/140

 "She is not Strang's wife," he spoke softly, as if to himself. "And she is not—" His face flushed as he nearly spoke the words. "Obadiah lied!" He looked squarely into Neil's eyes. "No, I don't understand you. The councilor said that she—that Marion was Strang's wife. He told me nothing more than that, nothing of her trouble, nothing about you. Until this moment I have been completely mystified. Only her eyes led me to do—what I did at the jail."

Neil gazed at him in astonishment.

"Obadiah told—you—nothing?" he asked incredulously.

"Not a word about you or Marion except that Marion was the king's seventh wife. But he hinted at many things and kept me on the trail, always expecting, always watching, and yet every hour was one of mystery. I am in the darkest of it at this instant. What does it all mean? Why are you going to kill Strang? Why—"

Neil interrupted him with a cry so poignant