Houston's arm. He
glanced down to see Medaine Robinette's hand, clasped tight. "'She
spent nearly the whole summer here, and I made love to her. I asked
her to marry me, and she told me that she would. She was really very
much in love with me. I didn't care about her--I was working for a
purpose. I wanted to use her--to get her in Houston's office. I
wanted to find out what was going on, so that I would know in advance,
and so that I could prepare for it by having breakage at the mill, to
stop contracts and run things farther down than ever, so the old man
would get disgusted and sell out at my terms. I knew there would be a
mint of money for me if I could get hold of that mill. At the end of
her vacation, she went back to Boston and got a job with Houston, as an
office clerk. Almost the first thing that she wrote me was that the
old man was thinking about selling out to some concern back East.'"

Houston looked toward the accused man for his confirmation, then
continued.

"'While she had been out here, I had told her that Houston had promised
to take me into partnership and that he had gone back on his word. I
put it up to her pretty strong about how I had been tricked into
working for him for years, and she was sympathetic with me, of course,
inasmuch as she was in love with me. Naturally, when she heard this,
she wrote me right away. It made me desperate. Then I thought of
Ba'tiste Renaud.'"

"Ah!" The word was accompanied by a sharp intake of breath as the big
French-Canadian moved closer to hear again the story of a murder. But
the sheriff motioned him back. The emotions of the old trapper were
not to be trusted. The recital went on:

"'Everybody around this country had always talked about how rich he
was. There was a saying that he didn't believe in banks and that he
kept more than a hundred thousand dollars in his little cabin. At this
time, both he and his son were away at war, and I thought I could steal
this money, place it in other hands, and then work things so that if I
did get hold of the mill, people around here would merely think I had
borrowed the money and bought the mill with it. By this time, a cousin
of Miss Jierdon's, a fellow named Jenkins, had gotten a job with
Houston and was working with her, and of course, I was hearing
everything that went on. It looked like the deal was going through,
and it forced me to action. One night I watched Mrs. Renaud and saw
her leave th