d sent him away. He said it was wrong for me to leave
Isom; he said that Isom was better than Morgan, bad as he was.

"I flared up and got mad at Joe, but he was gentle and kind, and talked
to me and showed me where I was wrong. I'd kind of tried to make love to
Joe a little before that," she confessed, her face flushing hotly again,
"before Mr. Morgan came, that was. I'll tell you this so you'll know
that there was nothing out of the way between me and Joe.

"Joe didn't seem to understand such things. He was nothing but a boy
till the night Isom was killed. He didn't take me up on it like Morgan
did. I know it was wrong in me; but Isom drove me to it, and I've
suffered for it--more than I can ever make you understand."

She appealed to the judge in her manner of saying that; appealed as for
the absolution which she had earned by a cruel penance. He nodded
kindly, his face very grave.

"Yes, Mrs. Chase," said Hammer. "And then what did you do next?"

"Well, while Joe was persuading me to go back to bed I put my arms
around his neck. I wanted to smooth it over with him, so he'd go to bed
first and I could take the money and put it back, for one thing; and
because I really was sorry for what I'd done, and was ashamed of it, and
felt lonesome and kicked out, and like nobody didn't care.

"Isom came in and saw us standing there that way, with my hands on Joe's
shoulders, and he rushed up and said: 'I'll kill you!' He said we was
standing there hugging each other, and that we'd disgraced him; but that
wasn't so. It was all my fault, but Joe didn't tell him that."

"And what did Joe tell him, Mrs. Chase?" asked Hammer, aglow with the
victory which he felt to be already in his hand. He looked with gloating
triumph at the prosecuting attorney, who sat at the table twirling a
pencil in his fingers, and did not lift his eyes.

"Joe told Isom he was making a mistake, and then Isom ripped and swore
and threatened to kill us both. He looked around for something to do it
with, and he saw that sack of money under Joe's hat. He jumped for the
table and grabbed it, and then he made for the gun. I told Joe to stop
him, and Joe tried. But he was too late. The rest of it happened just
like Joe's already told you."

Ollie's head drooped forward wearily, and her hands lay passively in her
lap. It seemed that she considered the story concluded, but Hammer was
not of that mind.

"After Isom fell--after the gun went off and Isom fell-