In the Shadow of the Hills Part 16

Sorenson made an angry gesture at what he considered an evasion.

"Janet, listen. He said he saw you at the edge of town, that you were both bare-headed, standing close together, arms locked. Good heavens, can't you imagine my feelings on hearing what he had to say! He stopped me on the street and drew me aside to put me on my guard, he said. Burkhardt wouldn't just make up a yarn like that against you, and he's a good friend of mine. He didn't say half what he suggested."

The girl turned her face towards the house, shut her eyes for an instant. She could picture the rider's brutal leering face and unspoken insinuations; and her brain also placed in the scene her lover greedily if angrily drinking in the tale. Harkening to it instead of knocking the man down, that was the worst of it.

Harkening--and believing.

"I'll not deign to resent your remark of meeting Mr. Weir 'on the quiet'," said she, quietly. "I met him on the road accidentally."

"Don't you think I'm ent.i.tled to know something about it?" he asked, with an edged tone.

"What is it you desire to know?"

Nearly an oath of wrath escaped his mouth, but he kept his control.

"Janet, you know what kind of a man he is," he said. "You know what I feel against him, and father, and all our friends, and the town. And the whole town, too, will probably hear of this, with a lot of gossip added that isn't true."

"But I met him accidentally."

"You didn't have to chat with him like an old friend."

Janet Hosmer gave him a slow, meditative look.

"How do you know how I talked with him?"

"You talked with him. That in itself was too much."

"I don't view it in that light," she responded. "He was perfectly civil. Whatever public opinion may be regarding the shooting, I know he killed the man in self-defence. So that's nothing against him. You would have done the same in his place."

Ed Sorenson leaned towards her.

"You were mistaken, Janet. I've said before that I feared you were, but the prosecuting attorney has witnesses to the gun-play that he's dug up. Martinez saw nothing; how could he from inside the office? And remember that you're only a girl, Janet; in the darkness and with the excitement you were confused. I haven't a doubt this scoundrel Weir made you believe you saw what never occurred, when you appeared in Martinez' office. When you've thought it over, you'll realize that yourself. These new witnesses tell just the reverse of what you fancied happened. I'm going to see that you're away from San Mateo when the man's tried, as he will be."

No reply coming from her, he continued:

"He deceived you then and he'll endeavor to poison your mind right along. You're too trustful. Now, I was angry at first, but if there was anything in this meeting to-night that was out of the way, it was his doing, I know. If he got familiar with you, as Burkhardt hinted----"

"Well?"

"I'll kill the dog with my own hands!"

"You may rest easy. His conduct was irreproachable, Mr. Burkhardt to the contrary."

Sorenson regarded her in perplexity, divided between anger and doubts.

Too, a new feeling unaccountably sprang into his breast--jealousy. In the end apprehension all at once filled his mind, darkening his face and bringing down his brows.

Uneasy as at first he had been after the row in the restaurant, he had eventually dismissed the matter from his mind, for no rumor of it had reached San Mateo. Neither Weir nor Johnson, the girl's father, had blabbed of it, so his alarm pa.s.sed; they didn't want to talk of it for the girl's sake, any more than he wished it known, was his grinning conclusion. The deuce would have been to pay if Janet had got wind of the business. But now his fears came winging back a hundred-fold as he stared at her.

"What did he say to you?" he asked, in a tense voice.

"Not that tone with me, if you please."

Sorenson, however, was past observation of her mood or temper.

"He told you a lot of lies about me, didn't he?" he went on, not hiding the sneer. "And you believed them."

"He didn't say much, but what he did say was to the point. I don't recall that there were any lies."

"There were, of course. It would be just his chance to give you his made-up story about me and that Johnson girl. That was what so interested you."

"No, he didn't say anything about you and any girl except me. Then he only said he was sorry he couldn't have the pleasure of my friendship----"

"Ay-ee," the other grated. His lips worked above his teeth.

A shudder pa.s.sed over Janet Hosmer's skin at the sound and the sight, for she had never seen him like this. A cold hand might have been closing about her heart: his glare was animal-like and b.e.s.t.i.a.l. His nature at the instant stood unclothed.

"And he said he would be at pains to avoid even chance meetings with me, because it would make talk and cause me annoyance."

"He'll not meet you another time if I have anything to say about it."

"I see. But I wanted you to understand that he told me no lies, nor repeated any story--about you and a Johnson girl, I think you said."

A visible breath of relief lifted his breast. He now would have been glad for some one to boot him along the street for ever mentioning the thing. He almost had put his foot in it. Apparently she was not interested in seeking further knowledge of the subject that he so ill-advisedly had brought up. Lucky for him she hadn't the inquisitiveness of some girls.

The narrow escape restored a trace of his good humor, and he was shrewd enough to divert her mind before the incident made an impression. He reached out and patted her shoulder.

"Don't think me a scold, darling," said he. "Burkhardt upset me with his news, that was all. He hates that gun-man so much that it's no wonder he was angry at seeing him hoodwink you. He probably imagined a lot. Just don't speak to Weir if he tries to stop you again. And pretty soon we'll have him where he won't interfere with anybody."

"When will that be?"

"The county attorney's still collecting evidence. Nothing will be done before the grand jury meets, which is in a couple of weeks. You must arrange to go off on a visit about that time."

"Why?"

"So you won't have to go through the ordeal of appearing in court.

There are ways of fixing such things." He laughed softly. "Especially here in San Mateo County. It's too rotten a business for you to have to step into, this murder. Come along down to the drug store and have some ice cream."

"Not to-night. I'm feeling a little tired."

"Then let us rest on your porch. I haven't seen you twice in the last week."

"Some other evening, Ed. I promised father to help get up his account books."

"You're not angry with me?" he asked. "If you're not, give me a kiss before I go."

A sharp smile showed on her lips.

"I'm not angry, but I'm going to penalize you to that extent. If you must have a cheek to press, go kiss----" She paused, while the conviction darted into his mind that she had remembered that Johnson girl blunder after all, then said: "Mr. Burkhardt's cheek."