"Was he
there? How do you know about it?"
A half-hour before Bob would have hesitated long before confiding his
secret to a fourth party; but now, for him, the world of relations had
shifted.
"I'll tell you about it," said he, without hesitation; "but this is
serious. You must never breathe even a word of it to any one!"
"Certainly not!" cried Amy.
"Oldham wasn't an actual witness of the killing; but I was, and he knew
it. He could have made me testify by informing the prosecuting
attorney."
Bob sketched rapidly his share in the tragedy: how he had held Pollock's
horse, and been in a way an accessory to the deed. Amy listened
attentively to the recital of the facts, but before Bob had begun to
draw his conclusions, she broke in swiftly.
"So Oldham offered to let you off, if you would keep out of this Modoc
Land case," said she.
Bob nodded.
"That was it."
"But it would have put you in the penitentiary," she pointed out.
"Well, the case wasn't quite decided yet."
She made her quaint gesture of the happily up-thrown hands.
"Just what you said about Mr. Welton!" she cried.
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