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44 North of the discovery she had made. If he knew that Hugo was her father, would he let him escape for her sake? But how could she tell him? What would he think of her for trying to divert him from the strict line of duty which she understood he had always followed?

These thoughts flashed through her mind with lightning rapidity as she stood there. North noted the troubled expression in her eyes, and attributed it to her interest on his behalf.

“You must not worry about me,” he told her. “I am well able to take care of myself.”

“But I am thinking about the trapper,” Marion truthfully explained. “I do not believe that he is the murderer. Why should he have brought that little child here if he had murdered its parents? Would he not have killed it, too, and fled to the wilderness? Have you thought of that?”

“Indeed I have,” was the emphatic reply, “and it is that which puzzles me. But Hugo is a strange character, and always does just the opposite from what one would expect. He may have brought the child here in order to deceive us.”

“But no one would have suspected him,” Marion insisted. “He could have murdered the parents and child and thrown their bodies into the river. What reason did he have for saving the child and bringing it here? Would you have suspected him of the deed?”

“Not at first, perhaps, but eventually we would have suspected him. It is utterly impossible for any man to escape in a country such as this. So far, every criminal has been brought to justice, no matter to what part of the world he fled. But, there, let us forget Hugo at present. I shall have enough of him before long. It