Page:Harold Macgrath--The girl in his house.djvu/128

 "But I didn't. Bob, I had to get those mortgages. Two of them fall due next month. And the jewels; always had a haunting idea that old Bordman might come back. Can't you see I had to do it this way?" "Why didn't you explain to her? She would have gladly given you anything in the house."

"That's true enough. But I've mulled over the thing for days. What would she think of a man selling a house with a fortune locked up in a secret wall safe? She would think it queer that the agent hadn't said something about it. She would begin to think that something was wrong, and sooner or later she would find out. She's always saying that she still doesn't understand how I came to sell the house, anyway."

"And so you played burglar, risked her life perhaps as well as your own; in fact, risked jail and the very explanations you are seeking to avoid. And she shot you!" Burlingham raised his hands toward heaven, or the ceiling, which was nearer. "If you aren't stark crazy!"