Page:The Millbank Case - 1905 - Eldridge.djvu/74

 Was it possible, Trafford asked himself, that the man was able to read the meaning of Judge Parlin's story and knew that Wing was his half-brother? He dismissed the question with the asking, satisfied that something of which he was still ignorant was at the foundation of this outbreak. It was to be a question of the comparative shrewdness of the two men, whether he still remained ignorant when the interview closed.

"You certainly don't suppose that I shot Millbank's leading citizen, do you?" the lawyer demanded, after a moment's pause. It was, perhaps, an effort to recover what the lawyer could not fail to see that he had lost.

"On the contrary, I've every reason to believe that he was still alive when you left town, and I still further believe that your visit had nothing to do, remotely or directly, with his death."

What was that odd flash that passed over the other's face as Trafford said these last words? Seemingly, Trafford was not looking at the other's face at the moment and it might have escaped him. Still, he would have been interested if he had seen it.