ain my innocence. I could say nothing that would turn
the law on Donald's trail.

"After that, things happened quickly. You, my friend, made your false
confession to save one who had done you a poor service years ago.
Almost simultaneously with that, Marette had come. She came quietly, in
the night, and went straight to Kedsty. She told him everything, showed
him the written evidence, telling him this evidence was in the hands of
others and would be used if anything happened to her. Her power over
him was complete. As the price of her secrecy she demanded my release,
and in that black hour your confession gave Kedsty his opportunity.

"He knew you were lying. He knew it was Donald who had killed Barkley.
Yet he was willing to sacrifice you to save himself. And Marette
remained in his house, waiting and watching for Donald, while I
searched for him on the trails. That is why she secretly lived in
Kedsty's house. She knew that Donald would come there sooner or later,
if I did not find him and get him away. And she was plotting how to
save you.

"She loved you, Kent--from that first hour she came to you in the
hospital. And she tried to exact your freedom also as an added price
for her secrecy. But Kedsty had become like a cornered tiger. If he
freed you, he saw his whole world crumbling under his feet. He, too,
went a little mad, I think. He told Marette that he would not free you,
that he would go to the hangman first. Then, Kent, came the night of
your freedom, and a little later--Donald came to Kedsty's home. It was
he whom you saw that night out in the storm. He entered and killed
Kedsty.

"Something dragged Marette down to the room that night. She found
Kedsty in his chair--dead. Donald was gone. It was then that you found
her there. Kent, she loved you--and you will never know how her heart
bled when she let you think she had killed Kedsty. She has told me
everything. It was her fear for Donald, her desire to keep all possible
suspicion from him until he was safe, that compelled her not to confide
even in you. Later, when she knew that Donald must be safe, she was
going to tell you. And then--you were separated at the Chute."
McTrigger paused, and Kent saw him choke back a grief that was still
like the fresh cut of a knife in his heart.

"And O'Connor found out all this?"

McTrigger nodded. "Yes. He defied Kedsty's command to go to Fort
Simpson and was on his way back to Athabasca Landing when he found my
br