"Did--did sh-she come out t-to our m-m-mine spying for Farnham?"
"Really, I don't know."
His grave face darkened anxiously; she could perceive the change even
in that shadow, and distinguish the sharp grind of his teeth.
"Damn him," he muttered, his voice bitter with hate. "It w-would be
l-l-like one of his l-low-lived tricks. Wh-what is that g-girl to him,
anyhow?"
It was no pleasant task to hurt this man deliberately, yet, perhaps, it
would be best. Anyway, it was not in Beth Norvell's nature either to
lie or to be afraid.
"He has been her friend; there are some who say her lover."
He stared fixedly at her, as though she had struck him a stinging,
unexpected blow.
"Him? A-an' you s-s-say she 's on the squar?"
"Yes; I say she is on the square, because I think so. It's a hard life
she 's had to live, and no one has any right to judge her by strict
rules of propriety. I may not approve, neither do I condemn. Good
women have been deceived before now--have innocently done wrong in the
eyes of the world--and this Mercedes is a woman. I know him also, know
him to be a cold-blooded, heartless brute. She is merely a girl,
pulsating with the fiery blood of the South, an artist to her fingers'
tips, wayward and reckless. It would not be very difficult for one of
that nature to be led astray by such a consummate deceiver as he is. I
pity her, but I do not reproach. Yet God have mercy on him when she
awakes from her dream, for that time is surely coming, perhaps is here
already; and the girl is on the square. I believe it, she is on the
square."
For a silent, breathless moment Brown did not stir, did not once take
his eyes from off her face. She saw his hand slip down and close hard
over the butt of his dangling revolver. Then he drew a deep breath,
his head thrown back, his great shoulders squared.
"D-damn, but that helps me," he said soberly. "It--it sure does.
G-good-night, little g-girl."
"Are you going to leave me now?"
"Why, sure. Th-this yere is the h-h-hotel, ain 't it? W-well, I 've
got t-to be back to th-the 'Little Yankee' afore d-d-daylight, or thar
'll be h-hell to pay, an' I sure m-mean to see her first,
an'--an'--maybe h-him."
She stood there in thoughtful perplexity, oblivious to all else in her
strange surroundings, watching the dark shadow of his burly figure
disappear through the dim light. There was a strength of purpose, a
grim, unchangeable earnestness about the man which impressed her
greatly, which won her admiration. He was like some great faithful
dog, ready to die at his master's bidding. Down in her heart she
wondered what would be the tragic end of this night's confidence.