eton emerged from the hotel after the talk with Keller his brows
were furrowed and his lips were in a pout. He spent most of the day
sitting in his office, glaring moodily out into the street; and when he
heard the east-bound train rumble in late in the afternoon he drew a
deep breath and got up, muttering lowly:

"It looks mighty like it--for a fact. But Lawler--Oh, hell!"

Within fifteen minutes after the arrival of the east-bound train,
Moreton was sitting at the desk in his office, studying Miss Wharton's
face.

Della had been met at the train by Warden--who now stood just inside the
door of the office, watching her, admiring her self-possession.

For Della was calm and deliberate. There was, to be sure, a paleness
around her mouth that was not there at other times; and her lips were
set rather tightly. Moreton saw those indications of mental stress--but
they were no more pronounced than they should be in any woman who had
come to swear she had witnessed murder.

And Della swore to the statement she had made. She answered Moreton's
questions in a low voice, telling him she regretted having to answer
them--begging him to keep the matter as secret as possible, for she
abhorred publicity.

After Moreton had administered the oath, Della and Warden went out; and
for many minutes Moreton sat at his desk with his chin on his chest,
staring at the desk top.

He finally got up, buckled on his cartridge belt and pistol, went out,
mounted his horse and rode southward.

* * * * *

Inside the sheriff's office, Warden took leave of Della Wharton,
pressing her hand warmly, telling her that she had been "great." Della
smiled shallowly, not responding to Warden's hand pressure. Her face had
grown white and there was a glow in her eyes that she did not permit
Warden to see.

Warden left her, telling her she would find her horse in front of his
office--where Singleton had brought it. Warden's expressions of regret
that he could not accompany her to the Two Diamond were received in
silence. Business would keep him in town for a day or so, he said.

Warden went toward the Wolf, and Della walked down the street to her
horse, mounted and rode through mounds of back-yard refuse to the rear
of the Willets Hotel. She got a man out to stable her horse, and a few
minutes later she was in the room she had occupied on the night Lawler
brought her to town from the line cabin. She was still pale, but now