eyes did not soften and her voice was distant as she said, moving toward
the nearest parlor:

"If you have anything to say to me, please be brief. I must be going."

"I want to know what Sprudell has told you that you should look at me
almost as if you hated me?"

"How else would I look at the man who murdered my brother in
cold-blood."

He stared at her blankly in an astonishment too genuine to be feigned.

"I murdered your brother in cold-blood! You _are_ Slim's sister, then?"

"I'm Frederic Naudain's sister, if that's what you mean--his
half-sister."

The light of understanding grew slowly on Bruce's face. The revelation
made many things plain. The difference in the name accounted for his
inability to trace her. It was easy enough now to account for Sprudell's
violent opposition to their meeting.

"He told you that it was a premeditated murder?"

Watching him closely Helen saw that his tanned skin changed color.

She nodded.

"Why, I came East on purpose to find you!" he exclaimed. "To make
amends--"

"Amends!" she interrupted, and the cold scorn in her voice made the
perspiration start out on his forehead.

"Yes, amends," he reiterated. "I was to blame in a way, but not
entirely. Don't be any harder on me than you can help; it's not any easy
thing to talk about to--his sister."

She did not make it easier, but sat waiting in silence while he
hesitated. He was wondering how he could tell her so she would
understand, how not to shock her with the grewsome details of the story.
Through the wide archway with its draperies of gold thread and royal
purple velvet a procession of bare-shouldered, exquisitely dressed women
was passing and Bruce became suddenly conscious of the music of the
distant orchestra, of the faint odor of flowers and perfume, of
everything about him that stood for culture and civilization. How at the
antipodes was the picture he was seeing! For the moment it seemed as
though that lonely, primitive life on the river must be only a memory of
some previous existence. Then the unforgettable scene in the cabin came
back vividly and he almost shuddered, for he felt again the warm gush
over his hand and saw plainly the snarling madman striking, kicking,
while he fought to save him. He had meant to tell her delicately and
instead he blurted it out brutally.

"I made him mad and he went crazy. He came at me with the axe and I
threw him over my shoulder. He fell on the blade and cut an arter