"Don"t tell me that! What has become of Montgomery? Look at me! Two nights ago he came to see me; I had sent for him; I had learned from Nellie that he had practically deserted her. I learned further from the man himself that you and Gilmore were largely responsible for this."
"He was drunk, of course."
"He had been drinking--yes--"
"Doesn"t that explain his remarkable statement? What reason could Andy or any one have for wishing to keep him from his wife?" asked Marshall who had recovered his accustomed steadiness.
"He was ready with an answer for that question when I asked it. Do you wish to know what that answer was?" said the judge.
Marshall did not trust himself to speak; he felt the judge"s eyes on him and could not meet them. He saw himself cowering there in his chair with his guilt stamped large on every feature. His throat was dry and his lips were parched, he did not know whether he could speak. His shoulders drooped and his chin rested on his breast. What was the use--was it worth the struggle? Suppose Montgomery, in spite of his promises, came back to Mount Hope, suppose Gilmore"s iron nerve failed him!
"You don"t answer me, Marshall," said the judge.
"I don"t understand you--" evaded Marshall.
"From my soul I wish I could believe you!" exclaimed his father. "If it"s not debt, what is the nature of your discreditable connection with Gilmore?"
Marshall glanced up quickly; he seemed to breathe again; perhaps after all Montgomery had said less than he supposed him to have said!
"I have already told you that I owe Gilmore nothing!"
"I should be glad to think it, but I warn you to stand clear of him and his concerns, for I am going to investigate the truth of Montgomery"s story," declared the judge.
"What did he tell you?" Marshall spoke with an effort.
"That his evidence in the North case was false, that it was inspired by Gilmore."
Marshall pa.s.sed a shaking hand across his face.
"Nonsense!" he said.
"His story will be worth looking into. He stood for the truth of what he said in part, he insisted that he saw a man cross McBride"s shed on the night of the murder and drop into the alley, and the man was not John North. He seemed unwilling that North, through any instrumentality of his, should suffer for a crime of which he was innocent; his feeling on this point was unfeigned and unmistakable."
There was silence again, while the two men stared at each other. From the parlor the jarring sound of the music reached them, inconceivably out of harmony with the seriousness of their mood.
"I have wished to take no action in the matter of Montgomery"s disappearance until I saw you, Marshall," said the judge. "I have been sick with this thing! Now I am going to lay such facts as I have before Moxlow."
Marshall stared moodily into the fire. He told himself that the prosecuting attorney would be in great luck if he got anything out of Gilmore.
"I purpose to suggest to Moxlow a fresh line of investigation where this important witness is concerned, and Mr. Gilmore as the man most likely to clear up the mystery surrounding his disappearance from Mount Hope.
We may not be able to get anything very tangible out of him in the way of information, but I imagine we may cause him some little anxiety and annoyance. You can"t afford to be mixed up in this affair, and I warn you again to stand clear of Gilmore! If there is any truth in Montgomery"s statement it can only have the most sinister significance, for I don"t need to tell you that some powerful motive must be back of Gilmore"s activity. If North was not responsible for McBride"s death, where do the indications all point? Who more likely to commit such a crime than a social outcast--a man plying an illegal trade in defiance of the laws?"
"Hush! For G.o.d"s sake speak lower!" cried Marshall, giving way to an uncontrollable emotion of terror.
Racked and shaken, he stared about him as if he feared another presence in the room. The judge leaned forward and rested a thin hand on his son"s knee.
"Marshall, what do you know of Gilmore"s connection with this matter?"
"I want him let alone! To lay such stress on Montgomery"s drunken talk is absurd!"
The judge"s lips met in a determined line.
"I scarcely expected to hear that from you! I am not likely, as you know, to be influenced in the discharge of my duty by any private consideration."
He quitted his chair and stood erect, his figure drawn to its fullest height.
"Wait--I didn"t mean that," protested Marshall.
The judge resumed his chair.
"What did you mean?" he asked.
"What"s the use of throwing Moxlow off on a fresh scent?"
"That"s a very remarkable point of view!" said the judge, with a mirthless laugh.
In the utter selfishness that his fear had engendered, it seemed a monstrous thing to Langham that any one should wish to clear North, in whose conviction lay his own salvation. More than this, he had every reason to hate North, and if he were hanged it would be but a roundabout meting out of justice for that hideous wrong he had done him, the shame of which was ever present. He saw one other thing clearly, the necessity that Gilmore should be left alone; for the very moment the gambler felt the judge was moving against him, that moment would come his fierce demands that he be called off--that Marshall quiet him, no matter how.
"Have you been near North since his arrest?" asked the judge, apparently speaking at random.
"No," said Marshall.
"May I ask if you are offended because of his choice of counsel?"
"That has nothing to do with it!" said the younger man, moving impatiently in his chair.
"I do not like your att.i.tude in this matter, Marshall; I like it as little as I understand it. But I have given my warning. Keep clear of that fellow Gilmore, do not involve yourself in his fortunes, or the result may prove disastrous to you!"
"I want him let alone!" said Marshall doggedly, speaking with desperate resolution.
"Why?" asked the judge.
"Because it is better for all concerned; you--you don"t know what you"re meddling with--"
He quitted his chair and fell to pacing to and fro. His father"s glance, uncertain and uneasy, followed him as he crossed and recrossed the room.
"I find I can not agree with you, Marshall!" said the judge at length.
"I do not like hints, and unless you can deal with me with greater frankness than you have yet done, there is not much use in prolonging this discussion."
"As you like, then," replied Marshall, wheeling on him with sudden recklessness. "I want to tell you just this--you"ll not hurt Gilmore, but--"
Words failed him, and his voice died away on his white and twitching lips into an inarticulate murmur.
He struggled vainly to recover the mastery of himself, but his fear, now the growth of his many days and nights of torture, would not let him finish what he had started to say.
"Very good, I don"t want to hurt anybody, but I do want to find that man, whoever he is, that you and Gilmore are shielding; the man Joe Montgomery saw cross those sheds the night of the murder; I am going to bend my every energy to learning who that man is, and when I have discovered his ident.i.ty--"
"You"ll want to see him in North"s place, will you?" asked Marshall. The words came from him in a hoa.r.s.e whisper and his arm was extended threateningly toward his father. "You"re sure about that? You can"t conceive of the possibility that you"d be glad not to know? You want to have John North out of his cell and this other man there in his place; you want to face him day after day in the court room--you"re sure?" His shaking arm continued to menace the judge. "Well, you don"t need to find Montgomery, and you don"t need to hound Gilmore; I can tell you more than they can--"