sely. "I
wouldn't let him in. Then you came... oh, I remember now. I let you
in when all the time Dick Hardman was hiding in my closet."

"I knew you had him hidden," rejoined Pan.

"You meant to kill him! The yellow dog!... He came to me when I was
sick in bed. He begged me to hide him. And I did.... Then you talked
to me, as you're talking now ... Blink came with the whisky. Oh, I
see it all now!"

"Sure. And Louie--what did I tell you about Hardman?" returned Pan,
sure of his ground now and stern in his forcefulness.

"I don't remember."

"You told me Hardman said he'd marry you, and that some day when you
were drunk you'd do it."

"Yes, he said that, and I might have agreed, but I don't remember
telling you."

"Well, you did. And then I told you Hardman had forced my sweetheart,
Lucy, to marry him."

"_What_? He did that?"

"Reckon he did. I got there too late. But I drove him off to get a
gun. Then he hid there with you."

"So that was why?" she pondered, as if trying to penetrate the
cloudiness of her mind. "Something comes like a horrible dream."

"Sure," he hurried on. "Let me get it over.... I told you he couldn't
marry you when he already had a wife. You went crazy then. You
betrayed Hardman.... He came rushing out of the closet. Pretty nasty,
he was, Louie ... well, I left him lying in the hall! I grabbed
you--wrapped you in a blanket--and ran out. Blink was waiting. He
shot out the lights in the saloon. We got away. The place burned up,
with some girl they took for you--and Hardman--"

"My God! Burned alive?"

"No," replied Pan hoarsely.

"Pan--you--you avenged me--and your Lucy--you?--" she whispered,
clinging to him.

"Hush! Don't speak it! Don't ever _think_ it again," he said sternly.
"That's our secret. Rumor has it he fled from me to hide with you, and
you were both burned up."

"But Lucy--your mother!" she cried.

"They know nothing except that you're my friend's wife--that you've
been ill," he replied. "They're all kindness and sympathy. Dad never
saw you, and Gus will keep his mouth shut. Play your part now, Louise.
You and Blink make up your past. Just a few simple statements....
Then bury the past forever."

"Oh--I'm slipping--slipping--" she whispered, bursting into tears.
"Help me--back to the wagon."

She walked a few rods with Pan's arm supporting her. Then she
collapsed. He had to carry her to the wagon, where he deposited her