er voice shook again as she
replied.

"I--I ain't got any reason," she stammered. "I--I was just thinking
so. It--it came to me all of a sudden. Maybe I'm mistaken."

"Mistaken, was it?" asked Pat Kilrea. "Folks ain't got any right to be
mistaken when it comes to accusin' others of murder. If you hadn't had
some reason to speak that way ye'd have kept yer mouth shut, I'm
thinking. Why don't ye come right out with it?"

"I--I didn't really mean anything by it," stammered Sophy again.

"What revenge was that you was referring to?" he persisted.

"Nothing--nothing at all. How should I know what she would do?"

"Then you ought to have kept still an' held yer tongue," said Pat.

"But it seems to me as if we'd ought to investigate this thing a
little," ventured Prouty. "We ain't got anythin' here but this 'ere
young 'ooman's word for what's happened. She can tell us how it came
about, anyways, seems to me, and we can judge if it sounds sensible
and correct like."

"That's right," put in Kilrea. "That's fair and proper."

"I am perfectly willing to tell you all I know about it," asserted
Madge, quietly. "I--I came here to see Mr. Ennis on a matter
that--that concerns us only. And I had occasion to open my bag. Among
the things in it there was a revolver. It fell out of my hands and
exploded, and--and the bullet struck him. I--I never knew that he had
been shot. He never even told me, and then he hitched the dog to the
sleigh and took me over to Mrs. Papineau's, where I have been staying.
And it was she who discovered that he had been injured. She'll tell
you so herself if you go to her. And--and he told her it was an
accident, as he would tell you now if--if he wasn't dying."

"You'd fixed it up to spend the night at Papineau's?" asked Mrs.
Kilrea, who had hitherto kept somewhat in the background.

"That was the arrangement we had made," answered the girl. "There was
no other place where I could stay. But I'd have gone up there alone if
I'd known how badly he was hurt. I've stayed with them ever since, of
course, for there was no one to take me back. Mr. Papineau hadn't
returned. He was trapping."

"I don't see but what she must be tellin' the truth," opined Mrs.
Kilrea. "There ain't anything wrong or improper in all this, savin' a
girl handlin' a revolver, which ain't wise. We can go over to
Papineau's and make sure it's just as she says."

"But there's one thing ain't clear," said Pat Kilrea. "What business
d