the father whom
she loved and thought of as the best of men, could not have
accomplished all he had done without making enemies; but she could
conceive of an attack upon him being made only by some one roused to
insane and unreasoning hate against him or by some agent wicked and
vile enough to kill for profit. She could not conceive of its having
been done by a man whom, little as she had known him, she had liked,
with whom she had chatted and laughed upon terms of equality. The
accusation of the second telegram had overwhelmed her for a time, and
had driven her from the defense of him which she had made after he had
admitted his connection with Gabriel Warden; but now, Eaton felt, the
impulse in his favor had returned. She must have talked over with her
father many times the matter of the man whom Warden had determined to
befriend; and plainly she had become so satisfied that he deserved
consideration rather than suspicion that Connery's identification of
Eaton now was to his advantage. Harriet Santoine could not yet answer
the accusation of the second telegram against him, but--in reason or
out of reason--her feelings refused acceptance of it.

It was her feelings that were controlling her now, as suddenly she
faced him, flushed and with eyes suffused, waiting for the end of the
sentence he could not finish. And as his gaze met hers, he realized
that life--the life that held Harriet Santoine, however indefinite the
interest might be that she had taken in him--was dearer to him than he
had thought.

Avery had reached the door, holding it open for her to go out.
Suddenly Eaton tore the handle from Avery's grasp, slammed the door
shut upon him and braced his foot against it. He would be able to hold
it thus for several moments before they could force it open.

"Miss Santoine," he pleaded, his voice hoarse with his emotion, "for
God's sake, make them think what they are doing before they make a
public accusation against me--before they charge me with this to others
not on this train! I can't answer what you asked; I can't tell you now
about myself; there is a reason--a fair and honest reason, and one
which means life or death to me. It will not be merely accusation they
make against me--it will be my sentence! I shall be sentenced before I
am tried--condemned without a chance to defend myself! That is the
reason I could not come forward after the murder of Mr. Warden. I
could not have helped him--or aided in