Page:The Baron of Diamond Tail (1923).pdf/314



E WAS a vindictive and unprincipled man." said Barrett. "Nobody will ever know what was true and what was false in the charges he laid at Senator Nearing's door."

"But what do you suppose it was, Ed, that he tricd twice to tell—that night, that first terrible night, and here again when Uncle Hal was dying? What was it he knew that was so terrifying it could turn Uncle Hal's blood to water, and drive him to such a desperate and cowardly length that he would have sacrificed me to Findlay to protect himself?"

Alma's eyes were clouded again with the shadow of old troubles, which Barrett had hoped were gone forever from her skies. She looked at him appealingly, as if the thought that he could tell what Findlay knew dwelt with her and would not let her rest.

"The only man that might have answered that question is dead," Barrett returned.

"Dale Findlay? Yes, I know. But surely"

"Old Charley Thomson. They found him yesterday up in the canyon, shot through the heart."

"Findlay must have done it, he left here with Findlay that night. But I thought they were friends."

"I believe Thomson was holding something over Findlay, Alma, just as Findlay held his secret over your Uncle Hal. I think the old rascal rode Findlay a little