I know that you are
a man and a gentleman. I know that you are 'square.' So now, if you
think that you owe me anything for what I am doing for you, I want you
to remember that Henry Pollard is my uncle, my dead mother's brother,
and to make things no harder for him than he has made them for
himself."
With no other reference to her relation to the man, with no further hint
of a plea for herself, she went on to tell what she knew of Pollard and
Broderick, of their meetings with Dalton whom, she thought, they had
completely deceived, of the talk she had overheard that night at the
schoolhouse. She said nothing of her own precarious position at
Pollard's house. When he finished reading Buck Thornton's eyes were very
bright.
"A real woman," he muttered. "A real man's sort of girl! I doped her up
right at the first jump, and then I went and insulted her by thinking
that she was like 'Rattlesnake' Pollard! Lord, Lordy! What a
difference!" And then, very gently, his eyes clouding a little, he
muttered over and over, under his breath: "Poor little kid!"
But ever his thoughts came back to the tangle into which day by day he
himself had been moving deeper and deeper. He saw how simple the whole
matter had been, how seemingly sure of success.
Pages:
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271