ung over the sill, deadly white and deadly
still. The leaves were still, the air was still. Above her head, where
recently she had watched two piping orioles flutter about their weaving,
hung now the silent, pendant nest. No pipe, no bird, no motion. It
seemed as though here were the stage of Perrault's fairytale; only
'twas a Prince within who had pricked his destiny with a leaden bullet,
and a Princess rode to wake him.

Alertly, but with a heavy dread at her heart, she crossed the porch and
tiptoed to the open window. Dale was there, bent over the mahogany
table, reading; as far from the world as he was from his mad act; as far
from them both as he was from her. She went quietly in to him.

"Dale!"

He did not stir.

"Dale!" she again cried in a low voice, shaking him by the shoulder. He
looked slowly up.

"Dale, what does this mean?" she hurriedly began. "Why have you killed
that man?"

He remembered the Colonel's unpleasant interview, and burned with a deep
rage, growling:

"Leave me alone. I've got to read."

"Are you asleep?" she incredulously exclaimed. "Do you realize you've
killed Tusk Potter, and any moment they may be after you?"

As he again looked up there was a storm of irritation in his face.

"They won't be after me if people keep their mouths shut! What do I care
who I killed? Leave me alone! I've got to study!"

Stunned, she stared stupidly down at him, for here was a new trait--or,
at least, one he had not shown her. Many times she had been utterly
shocked, thoroughly enraged by evidences of his abnormal selfishness,
but she was unprepared for this atrocious abandonment. It aroused her
to a quick anger and, snatching the book from the table, she dashed it
to the floor.

"Look at me!" she cried.

He was looking at her, as he had never done. The deep-set eyes were
deeper, and their pupils venomously bright. She saw the fury being
mustered there, but without flinching looked straight back at him.

"Tell me why you killed that man?" she demanded.

His hands were clenched, and for the first time she began to fear her
influence might be waning.

"I killed him 'cause he was in the way," he growled again.

"But are you mad to go about killing people because they're in your way?
Don't you know--"

"I know all I want to know," he almost screamed at her. "I know that
time's flyin', 'n' I got to study! Go out 'n' leave me. He was in the
way, I tell you! It was natural to get rid of him."