"Even though they deny it."
"Practically they admitted rather than denied."
"Do you think it was quite straight, Kirby, to go to Miss Harriman with such a trumped-up charge? I don"t. I confess I"m surprised at you."
In voice and expression James showed his disappointment.
"It isn"t a trumped-up charge. I wanted to know the truth from her."
"Why didn"t you go to Jack, then?""
"I didn"t know at that time Jack was the man with her."
"You don"t know it now. You don"t know she was there. In point of fact the idea is ridiculous. You surely don"t think for a moment that she had anything to do with Uncle James"s death."
"No; not in the sense that she helped bring it about. But she knows somethin" she"s hidin"."
"That"s absurd. Your imagination is too active, Kirby."
"Can"t agree with you." Lane met him eye to eye.
"Grant for the sake of argument that she was in Uncle"s room that night. Your friend Miss Rose McLean was there, too--by her own confession. When she came to Jack and me with her story, we respected it. We did not insist on knowing why she was there, and it was of her own free will she told us. Yet you go to our friend and distress her by implications that must shock and wound her. Was that generous? Was it even fair?"
The cattleman stood convicted at the bar of his own judgment. His cousins had been magnanimous to Esther and Rose, more so than he had been to Miss Harriman. Yet, even while he confessed fault, he felt uneasily that there was a justification he could not quite lay hold of and put into words.
"I"m sorry you feel that way, James. Perhaps I was wrong. But you want to remember that I wasn"t askin" about what she knew with any idea of makin" it public or tellin" the police. I meant to keep it under my own hat to help run down a cold-blooded murderer."
"You can"t want to run him down any more than we do--and in that "we" I include Jack and Miss Harriman as well as myself," the older man answered gravely. "But I"m sure you"re entirely wrong. Miss Harriman knows nothing about it. If she had she would have confided in us."
"Perhaps she has confided in Jack."
"Don"t you think that obsession of yours is rather--well, unlikely, to put it mildly? a.n.a.lyze it and you"ll find you haven"t a single substantial fact to base it on."
This was true. Yet Kirby"s opinion was not changed. He still believed that Jack and Miss Harriman had been in his uncle"s rooms just before Wild Rose had been there.
He returned to the subject of the bond. It seemed to him best, he said, in view of Jack"s feeling, to get other bondsmen. He hoped James would not interpret this to mean that he felt less friendly toward him.
His cousin bowed, rather formally. "Just as you please. Would you like the matter arranged this afternoon?"
Lane looked at his watch. "I haven"t heard from my new bondsmen yet.
Besides, I want to go to Golden. Would to-morrow morning suit you?"
"I dare say." James stifled a yawn. "Did you say you were going to Golden?"
"Yes. Some one gave me a tip. I don"t know what there"s in it, but I thought I"d have a look at the marriage-license registry."
Cunningham flashed a startled glance at him that asked a peremptory question. "Probably waste of time. I"ve been in the oil business too long to pay any attention to tips."
"Expect you"re right, but I"ll trot out there, anyhow. Never can tell."
"What do you expect to find among the marriage licenses?"
"Haven"t the slightest idea. I"ll tell you tomorrow what I do find."
James made one dry, ironic comment. "I rather think you have too much imagination for sleuthing. You let your wild fancies gallop away with you. If I were you I"d go back to bronco busting."
Kirby laughed. "Dare say you"re right. I"ll take your advice after we get the man we"re after."
CHAPTER XXIV
REVEREND NICODEMUS RANKIN FORGETS AND REMEMBERS
By appointment Kirby met Rose at Graham & Osborne"s for luncheon. She was waiting in the tower room for him.
"Where"s Esther?" he asked.
Rose mustered a faint smile. "She"s eating lunch with a handsomer man."
"You can"t throw a stone up Sixteenth Street without hittin" one," he answered gayly.
They followed the head waitress to a small table for two by a window.
Rose walked with the buoyant rhythm of perfect health. Her friend noticed, as he had often done before, that she had the grace of movement which is a corollary to muscles under perfect response.
Seated across the table from her, he marveled once more at the miracle of her soft skin and the peach bloom of her complexion. Many times she had known the sting of sleet and the splash of sun on her face. Yet incredibly her cheeks did not tan nor lose their fineness.
"You haven"t told me who this handsomer man is," Kirby suggested.
"Cole Sanborn." She flushed a little, but looked straight at him.
"Have you told him--about Esther?"
"No. But from somethin" he said I think he guesses."
Her eyes softened. "He"s awf"ly good to Esther. I can see he likes her and she likes him. Why couldn"t she have met him first? She"s so lovable." Tears brimmed to her eyes. "That"s been her ruin. She was ready to believe any man who said he cared for her. Even when she was a little bit of a trick when people liked her, she was grateful to them for it and kinda snuggled up to them. I never saw a more cuddly baby."
"Have you found out anything more yet about--the man?" he asked, his voice low and gentle.
"No. It"s queer how stubborn she can be for all her softness. But she almost told me last night. I"ll find out in a day or two now. Of course it was your uncle. The note I found was really an admission of guilt. Your cousins feel that some settlement ought to be made on Esther out of the estate. I"ve been trying to decide what would be fair. Will you think it over and let me know what seems right to you?"
The waitress came, took their order, and departed.
"I"m goin" out to Golden to-day on a queer wild-goose chase," Kirby said. "A man gave me a hint. He didn"t want to tell me the information out an" out, whatever it is. I don"t know why. What he said was for me to go to Golden an" look over the list of marriage licenses for the past month or two."
Her eyes flashed an eager question at him. "You don"t suppose--it couldn"t be that Esther was married to your uncle secretly and that she promised not to tell."
"I hadn"t thought of that. It might be." His eyes narrowed in concentration. "And if Jack an" Miss Harriman had just found it out, that would explain why they called on Uncle James the night he was killed. Do you want to go to Golden with me?"
She nodded, eagerly. "Oh, I do, Kirby! I believe we"ll find out something there. Shall we go by the interurban?"