he news. He was thinking of his own safety, and
his distorted mind was at work gauging Peter from his own standpoint.
He felt he must avoid Peter for the present. Peter was too shrewd.
Peter might--yes, he must certainly avoid him until after--dawn. Then
it would not matter.

Sick in body as well as in mind after the evening's events, the low,
cruel cunning which possessed him was still hard at work scheming to
fulfil both his vicious desires and to hedge himself round in safety.

This was the first time he had been near home since he had returned
from the bluff. He had painfully followed Jim into the village and
shadowed him down to the saloon. He was in an extremity of terror the
whole time, from the moment he realized Jim's intention to notify the
villagers of what had happened until the end of the trial, when he
heard the sentence passed. Then, curiously enough, his terror only
abated the slightest degree.

But he was very sick, nearly dropping with fatigue and bodily
suffering. Something was wrong in his chest, and the pain of it was
excruciating. There were moments when the shooting pains in his poor
curved spine set him almost shrieking. Will's blows had done their
work on his weakly frame, and it felt to him to be all broken up.

When he reached his sister's gate, he stood for some moments leaning
on it gasping for breath. His strength was well-nigh expended, leaving
him faint and dizzy. Slowly his breathing eased, and he glanced at the
windows. The lamps were still burning inside. Evidently Eve was
waiting for something. Had she heard? He wondered. Was she now waiting
for the verdict? Perhaps she was only waiting for his own return.

And while he considered a flash of the devil, that was always busy
within him, stirred once more. He had come to tell her of it all. And
the thought pleased him. For the moment he forgot something of his
bodily sufferings in the joy of the thought of the pain he was about
to inflict upon her. He groped his hand in his jacket pocket. Yes,
they were all there, the knife and the handkerchief that had so
puzzled the doctor and those others.

He stealthily opened the gate and walked up the path. At the door he
stood listening. Some one was stirring within. Hark! That sounded like
Eve sobbing. Now she was speaking. Was she speaking to herself--or to
some one else? He listened acutely. He could only hear the murmur of
her voice. There was no other sound within.

Suddenly he drew b