brooded on him
with a sort of intense determination. Then she went on, "It--it
involves my whole future as well as your own, though in a different
way. So come inside, if you please."

Weir in silence accompanied her upon the dark, broad, vine-clad porch.
In the half-gloom he found chairs for them.

"I'm going to the point at once," she declared. "Why did Mr. Sorenson
talk in such a fashion?" And he could feel her bending forward as if
hanging on his answer.

"That's the one thing I can't discuss," said he.

"I must know, I must know."

"And unhappily I must refuse."

"Oh, Mr. Weir, if you could but understand what this involves for me,
you wouldn't hesitate! I was shocked at the shooting, but I saw its
necessity on your part; you're not one to run from a foe, a cowardly
foe least of all. But what I heard there in the street horrified me. I
couldn't believe it; I can scarcely credit my ears yet. Mr. Sorenson
and Mr. Burkhardt were not near when you were attacked; they are not
acquainted with the circumstances or facts as you, Mr. Martinez and I
know them; they apparently didn't appear until the crowd started away
with the dead man. Yet at once----"

"Ay, at once," Steele Weir let slip.

"At once, immediately, when they had barely heard the story, they
began to tear it to pieces and suggest another, making you out a
villain. You're only an acquaintance, sir, scarcely more than a
stranger, but as I listened it outraged all my sense of justice. Mr.
Sorenson, of all men! My brain was in a whirl. But it's steady now."

The engineer failed to open his lips at her pause.

"I'm no fool, Mr. Weir; I think of other things besides dressing my
hair and using a powder puff. I can sometimes put two and two
together--when I see the 'twos' clearly. Now, tell me why Mr. Sorenson
talked as he did, for I must have my eyes clear."

"Ask me anything but that, Miss Hosmer."

He sat distressed and uneasy at her prolonged muteness. Suddenly she
questioned quietly:

"Are those two men the enemies you spoke of?"

"It will save me embarrassment if I go," he remarked, starting to
rise. "I don't want you to hate me, you know, and still I can't say
anything."

Her grasp pulled him imperatively back.

"You shall not go yet."

"Then I can only continue to decline making answers. I frankly say
that I regret having uttered a word of explanation."

"I don't regret it. And I intend to keep questioning you, however rude
you may thi