Frank Merriwell's Son Part 13

"Tell me the truth," commanded Berlin, still in that calm, deliberate tone.

"It is ze truth."

"Think again. You place me in the awkward position of contradicting a lady. You were talking with a man."

"No."

"But I heard him."

"What deed you hear?" she fiercely demanded, as she clutched his arm.

"Tell me what deed you hear heem say?"

"Then you acknowledge there was a man?"

"Oh, what is ze use to deny! _Oui_, _oui_, zere was ze man!"

"Who is he?"

"Perhap maybe he is my lovaire. Perhap he has promised me to marry."

For one instant Berlin seemed on the point of losing all his a.s.sumed self-control. His hands shook, and he made a move as if he would seize her roughly. He checked this movement just in time.

"Your lover, eh?" he said. "Well, what sort of a lover is he who meets you in this sort of a manner at night? Why doesn't he see you like a man, instead of sneaking around this way? Your lover, girl? What right have you to have a lover other than myself? You call yourself Lizette, and you speak with an accent, but I know you are Bessie King. I did think I might be mistaken, but now I'm positive there is no mistake. I am right. You are Bessie!"

She threw back her head and laughed softly.

"I hear ze madame say you are not well, monsieur," she said. "I theenk ze madame is right. It must be een your head. I am vary, vary sorree for you. You should not become so much excited."

"I knew you were a wonderful actress, Bessie, but you astonish me still.

When you lived on the Flying Dollars Ranch you took delight in acting a part."

"What is ze Flying Dollairs Ranch?"

He paid no heed to the question.

"Yes, you were a great actress even then," he went on. "Colonel King had a beautiful daughter, and he was supposed to have a son--a harum-scarum, reckless lad, who went galloping over the ranges with the cowboys, roped cattle, took part in round-ups, and did all sorts of things like that.

This boy was known as Tom King. Colonel King's foreman, Injun Jack, had a grudge against Frank Merriwell and swore to kill him. He found his opportunity and attempted to shoot Merriwell. In order to save Merriwell's life young Tom King shot Injun Jack. It was thought that Jack had been instantly killed. But while Colonel King lay dying a few hours later and Tom King was weeping over his father, Injun Jack appeared and made a revelation that astounded every one. The boy who had been known by that name was Bessie King, the colonel's daughter. You are that girl."

Again Lizette tried to force a laugh.

"It is so strange a crazee notion," she said.

"Why keep it up?" demanded Berlin. "You must realize you cannot fool me, even though, by the change in your appearance, by doing your hair in a peculiar manner, penciling your eyebrows and staining your skin, you have deceived Merriwell himself. He did not know you as I knew you. Look at me, Bessie. Have your eyes shown you no change in me? Have you not seen how altered I have become since your disappearance? I never knew how much I loved you until you had vanished and I could not find you. I have searched everywhere, and every hour since your vanishing has been an hour of restless torture for me. It seems to me that I loved you, Bessie, as no man ever loved a girl before. You gave me no opportunity to declare my love, but I declare it now. It's as strong as it was then--and stronger. I swore I would find you some time. I vowed you should be mine. I have found you, and I intend to keep that vow. What's this, little girl--you're weeping? You won't deny me longer? You are Bessie--Bessie, my own!"

"Yes," she answered chokingly, "I am Bessie!"

CHAPTER XII.

A HEART LAID BARE.

It was the truth at last. His heart leaped madly. But when he reached for her she started back.

"Don't touch me!" came huskily from her lips. "You must not!"

"Mustn't?"

"No."

"Why, Bessie, I still----"

"You can't forget that I am the child of a cattle thief--a criminal!"

"That's not your fault, little girl. I can forget it. I have forgotten it."

"It's impossible," she declared, shaking her head.

"Such talk is folly, Bessie. Your father's misdeeds should not blight your life. I will not have it so! You were innocent."

She turned her face toward him, and those wonderful dark eyes looked sadly into his. There were tears trembling on the long lashes.

"You know I'm not foolish, Berlin Carson," she said, in a strangely hardened tone. "In the old days on the ranch I was no soft-hearted, light-headed girl."

"You were the most bewitching and fascinating creature the Colorado sun ever shone upon. There was always a mystery about you, and it bound me with a magic spell. The years since I saw you last have made that spell more potent and powerful."

"Still, I'm the daughter of a man who rustled cattle. He did not rustle them in the good old-fashioned way. Instead of that, he stole them after the manner that a sneak thief picks a pocket. He did his work by altering the brands. He posed as another man. He sought to lay all the blame on the shoulders of Laramie Dave, a known rustler."

"Why talk of that, Bessie?"

"I lived on the Flying Dollars Ranch. Dressed as a boy, I rode the range with my father's cattlemen, who helped him rustle. Do you think I knew nothing of what was taking place? Do you think I was silly enough and soft enough to be deceived? You must understand that I knew my father was a criminal."

Carson shivered a little, but it was not because of the cool night air.

In all the weeks and months since her vanishing, in all his thoughts of her, this thing had never occurred to him. He had regarded her as the innocent, unfortunate daughter of a bad man.

Now, however, he sought an excuse for her.

"He was your father, and you had to protect him. You could not betray your own father. You must have suffered."

"You're too kind, too generous," she hoa.r.s.ely explained. "It was no effort on my part to keep his secret. I knew what business he followed long years before I ever saw you. I knew it long before he purchased the Flying Dollars. Down in Texas he was a rustler, but, unlike other rustlers, he did not squander his money. He saved it and sent me to school. In a boarding school I was regarded as the daughter of a wealthy ranchman. I was popular with my girl schoolmates. No one of them ever suspected that my father was a cattle thief and that I knew it."

"For Heaven's sake, stop!" commanded Carson. "Don't seek to degrade yourself in my eyes! Don't try to turn me against you in this manner!"

"I'm simply telling you the truth, Berlin Carson. Do you wonder why I vanished after my father's death? Do you wonder why I never faced you again? You knew a part of the miserable truth. Had I been compelled to see you again, I knew I would tell you all, and I likewise knew what that meant."

"What it meant?"