Part 26 (2/2)
”If I didn't, do you think I'd have tried for a moment to conceal what he said to me?”
”Why did you conceal it?”
”Because Arthur Sloane was my friend, and his daughter's happiness would have been ruined if I'd thrown further suspicion on him. Besides, what I did conceal could have been of no value to any detective or sheriff on earth. It meant nothing, so long as I knew the boy's sincerity--and his innocence as well as Arthur's.”
”But,” Hastings persisted, ”why all this concern for Webster, after his engagement had been broken?”
”How's that?” Wilton countered. ”Oh, I see! The break wasn't permanent.
Arthur and I had decided on that. We knew they'd get together again.”
Hastings halted in front of the judge's chair.
”Have you kept back anything else?” he demanded.
”Nothing,” Wilton said, with a return of his former sullenness. ”And,”
he forced himself to the avowal, ”I'm sorry I kept that back. It's nothing.”
Hastings' manner changed on the instant. He was once more cordial.
”All right, judge!” he said heartily, consulting his ponderous watch.
”This is all between us. I take it, you wouldn't want it known by the sheriff, even now?” Wilton shook his head in quick negation. ”All right!
He needn't--if things go well. And the person I got it from won't spread it around.--That satisfactory?”
The judge's smile, in spite of his best effort, was devoid of friendliness. The dark flush that persisted in his countenance told how hardly he kept down his anger.
Hastings put on his hat and ambled toward the door.
”By the way,” he proclaimed an afterthought, ”I've got to ask one more favour, judge. If Mrs. Brace troubles you again, will you let me know about it, at the earliest possible moment?”
He went out, chuckling.
But the judge was as mystified as he was resentful. He had detected in Hastings' manner, he thought, the same self-satisfaction, the same quiet elation, which he and Berne had observed at the close of the music-room interview. Going to the window, he addressed the summer sky:
”Who the devil does the old fool suspect--Arthur or Berne?”
XIV
MR. CROWN FORMS AN ALLIANCE
”If you've as much as five hundred dollars at your disposal--pin-money savings, perhaps--anything you can check on without the knowledge of others, you can do it,” Hastings urged, ending a long argument.
”I! Take it to her myself?” Lucille still protested, although she could not refute his reasonings.
”It's the only way that would be effective--and it wouldn't be so difficult. I had counted on your courage--your unusual courage.”
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