"I have learned," said Donnegan, "that Landis has not the slightest claim to them himself. And that you set him on the trail of the claims by trickery."
The colonel did not wince.
"Of course not," said the fat trickster. "Not the slightest right. My claim is a claim of superior wits, you see. And in the end all your labor shall be rewarded, for my share will go to Lou and through her it shall come to you. No?"
"Quite logical."
The colonel disregarded the other"s smile.
"But I have a painful confession to make."
"Well?"
"I misjudged you, Donnegan. A moment since, when I was nearly distraught with disappointment, I said some most unpleasant things to you."
"I have forgotten them."
But the colonel raised his strong forefinger and shook his head, smiling.
"No, no, Donnegan. If you deny it, I shall know that you are harboring the most undying grudge against me. As a matter of fact, I have just had an interview with Lord Nick, and the cursed fellow put my nerves on edge."
The colonel made a wry face.
"And when you came, I saw no manner in which you could possibly thwart him."
His eyes grew wistful.
"Between friends--as a son to his future father," he said softly, "can"t you tell me what the charm was that you used on. Nick to send him away?
I watched him come out of the shack. He was in a fury. I could see that by the way his head thrust out between his big shoulders. And when he went down the hill he was striding like a giant, but every now and then he would stop short, and his head would go up as if he were tempted to turn around and go back, but didn"t quite have the nerve. Donnegan, tell me the trick of it?"
"Willingly. I appealed to his gambling instinct."
"Which leaves me as much in the dark as ever."
But Donnegan smiled in his own peculiar and mirthless manner and he went on to the hut. Not that he expected a cheery greeting from Lou Macon, but he was drawn by the same perverse instinct which tempts a man to throw himself from a great height. At the door he paused a moment. He could distinguish no words, but he caught the murmur of Lou"s voice as she talked to Jack Landis, and it had that infinitely gentle quality which only a woman"s voice can have, and only when she nurses the sick.
It was a pleasant torture to Donnegan to hear it. At length he summoned his resolution and tapped at the door.
The voice of Lou Macon stopped. He heard a hurried and whispered consultation. What did they expect? Then swift foot-falls on the floor, and she opened the door. There was a smile of expectancy on her lips; her eyes were bright; but when she saw Donnegan her lips pinched in. She stared at him as if he were a ghost.
"I knew; I knew!" she said piteously, falling back a step but still keeping her hand upon the k.n.o.b of the door as if to block the way to Donnegan. "Oh, Jack, he has killed Lord Nick and now he is here--"
To do what? To kill Landis in turn? Her horrified eyes implied as much.
He saw Landis in the distance raise himself upon one elbow and his face was gray, not with pain but with dread.
"It can"t be!" groaned Landis.
"Lord Nick is alive," said Donnegan. "And I have not come here to torment you; I have only come to ask that you let me speak with you alone for a moment, Lou!"
He watched her face intently. All the cabin was in deep shadow, but the golden hair of the girl glowed as if with an inherent light of its own, and the same light touched her face. Jack Landis was stricken with panic: he stammered in a dreadful eagerness of fear.
"Don"t leave me, Lou. You know what it means. He wants to get you out of the way so that the colonel can be alone with me. Don"t go, Lou! Don"t go!"
As though she saw how hopeless it was to try to bar Donnegan by closing the door against him, she fell back to the bed. She kept her eye on the little man, as if to watch against a surprise attack, and, fumbling behind her, her hand found the hand of Landis and closed over it with the rea.s.surance of a mother.
"Don"t be afraid, Jack. I won"t leave you. Not unless they carry me away by force."
"I give you my solemn word." said Donnegan in torment, "that the colonel shall not come near Landis while you"re away with me."
"Your word!" murmured the girl with a sort of horrified wonder. "Your word!"
And Donnegan bowed his head.
But all at once she cast out her free hand toward him, while the other still cherished the weakness of Jack Landis.
"Oh, give them up!" she cried. "Give up my father and all his wicked plans. There is something good in you. Give him up; come with us; stand for us: and we shall be grateful all our lives!"
The little man had removed his hat, so that the sunshine burned brightly on his red hair. Indeed, there was always a flamelike quality about him.
In inaction he seemed femininely frail and pale; but when his spirit was roused his eyes blazed as his hair burned in the sunlight.
"You shall learn in the end," he said to the girl, "that everything I do, I do for you."
She cried out as if he had struck her.
"It"s not worthy of you," she said bitterly. "You are keeping Jack here--in peril--for my sake?"
"For your sake," said Donnegan.
She looked at him with a queer pain in her eyes.
"To keep you from needless lying," she said, "let me tell you that Jack has told me everything. I am not angry because you come and pretend that you do all these horrible things for my sake. I know my father has tempted you with a promise of a great deal of money. But in the end you will get nothing. No, he will twist everything away from you and leave you nothing! But as for me--I know everything; Jack told me."
"He has told you what? What?"
"About the woman you love."
"The woman I love?" echoed Donnegan, stupefied.
It seemed that Lou Macon could only name her with an effort that left her trembling.
"The Lebrun woman," she said. "Jack has told me."
"Did you tell her that?" he asked Landis.
"The whole town knows it," stammered the wounded man.
The cunning hypocrisy spurred Donnegan. He put his foot on the threshold of the shack, and at this the girl cried out and shrank from him; but Landis was too paralyzed to stir or speak. For a moment Donnegan was wildly tempted to pour his torrent of contempt and accusation upon Landis. To what end? To prove to the girl that the big fellow had coolly tricked her? That it was to be near Nelly Lebrun as much as to be away from the colonel that he wished so ardently to leave the shack? After all, Lou Macon was made happy by an illusion; let her keep it.
He looked at her sadly again. She stood defiant over Landis; ready to protect the helpless bulk of the man.