which shrank
under his touch.

"Now, don't say things that you'll regret, Helen. You're the only girl
I have, and I'm the only father you have, so we ought to make the best
of each other, oughtn't we, eh? You're prone to hasty judgments. Don't
let them run away with you now."

"Don't touch me!" He made way for her as she got to her feet.
"Father,"--she tremblingly faced him, leaning for support against a
corner of the bureau,--"I _heard_ all that you said to Mr. Moran. I
don't want you to tell me what we've been to each other. Don't I know
that? Haven't I felt it?"

The Senator swallowed hard, touched to the quick at the sight of her
suffering.

"You want me to explain it--more fully?"

"If you can. Can you?" Her lips twitched spasmodically. "I want you to
tell me something that will let me continue to believe that you
are--that you are--Oh, you know what I want to say." Rexhill blushed a
deep purple, despite his efforts at self-control. "But what can you say,
father; what _can_ you say, after what I've heard?"

"You mean as regards young Wade? You know, I told you last night about
his attack on the Sheriff. You know, too"--the blush faded as the
Senator caught his stride again--"that I said I meant to crush him. You
even agreed with me that he should be taught a lesson."

"But you should fight fairly," Helen retorted, with a quick breath of
aggression. "Do you believe that he killed Jensen? Of course you don't.
The mere idea of such a thing is absurd."

"Perhaps he planned it."

"Father!" The scorn in her tone stung him like a whip-lash. "Did he plan
the warrants, too? The warrant that hasn't been issued yet, although you
are going to swear that it was issued yesterday. Did he plan that?"

Once in his political career, the Senator had faced an apparent
_impasse_ and had wormed out of it through tolerant laughter. He had
laughed so long and so genially that the very naturalness of his
artifice had won the day for him. Men thought that if he had had a
guilty conscience, he could not have seemed so carefree. He tried the
same trick now with his daughter; but it was a frightful attempt and he
gave it up when he saw its ill-success.

"See here, Helen," he burst out, "it is ridiculous that you should
arraign me in this way. It is true that no warrant was out yesterday for
Wade, but it is also true that the Sheriff intended to issue one, and it
was only through my influence that the warrant was not issued. Sinc