"Do I understand you that Walcott is not this man's real name?" Mr.
Britton interposed.
"His name is José Martinez, Señor."
"But is he not a half-breed? I have understood his father was an
Englishman."
"His father was an Englishman, but no one ever knew who he was, you
understand, Señor? Afterwards his mother married Pablo Martinez, and her
child took his name. That was why my father opposed our marriage."
"I understand," said Mr. Britton; "but he claims heavy cattle interests
in the South; how did he come by them?"
"My father's, all of them;" she replied. "He and my father quarrelled
soon after we went there to live. Then we came away north; we lived for
a while in this State,"--she paused and hesitated as though fearing she
had said too much, but Mr. Britton's face betrayed nothing, and she
continued: "Then, in a year or so, we went south and he and my father
quarrelled again. My father was found dead on the plains, trampled by
the cattle, but no one knew how it came about. Then José took everything
and told me I had nothing. He went north again three years ago. A year
later he came back and told me I was not his wife, that our marriage was
void because it was not performed in this country. I became very ill. He
took me away among strangers and left me there, to die, as he thought.
But he was mistaken. I had something to live for,--to follow him, as I
have followed him and will follow him to the end."
The woman rose from the table; Mr. Britton rose also, and stood for a
moment, facing her.
"He is a dangerous man," he said; "how is it that you do not fear him?"
She laughed softly. "He fears me, Señor; why should I fear him?"
"I understand," Mr. Britton said; "he fears you because you know him to
be a criminal; because his freedom--perhaps his very life--is in your
hands. Why are you not in danger on that account? What is to hinder his
taking a life so inimical to his own?"
A cunning, treacherous smile crept over her face and a baleful light
gleamed in her eyes, as she replied, "If I die at his hand my secret
does not die with me. I have fixed that. If I die to-day, the world
knows my secret to-morrow. He knows it, Señor, and I am safe."