to you that he may have a motive for pursuing us--you and me
and any other Holton he has a chance to injure. You see that point,
don't you?"

"No. What is it?"

"Well, you're duller than I think you are if it hasn't occurred to you
that Kirkwood is trying to even up with us for the loss of his wife. It
was our dear Uncle Jack that ran off with her; it was a Holton that did
it! You recollect that, don't you?"

"I seem to recall it," replied Fred ironically. He had mechanically
drawn out his pipe and was filling it from a canvas bag of cheap
tobacco.

"And that's all there is to it. Kirkwood had mooned around town here for
years, doing nothing. Then suddenly an old friend of his in the East
took pity on him and gave him this Sycamore Company to meddle in, and
he's contemptible enough to use a law case for personal vengeance
against perfectly innocent people. And you walked into the trap like a
silly sheep!"

"You know you don't believe that, Charlie. Kirkwood isn't that kind of
man. He's on the level and high grade."

"He may be all that; but he's a human being too. There's no man on earth
who'd pass a thing like that. An ignorant, coarse beast would have shot
somebody; but an educated man like Kirkwood calculates carefully and
sticks the knife in when he sees a chance to make it go clear through.
That girl of his is the cutest kid in Indiana, and I wouldn't do
anything to hurt her. But we've got to protect ourselves, you and I,
Fred. We're not responsible for Uncle Jack's sins. The whole thing is
blistering Kirkwood right now because Uncle Jack's turned up and the
lady in the case has had so little decency as to follow him."

"I don't suppose she thought of doing anything of the kind. She and
Uncle Jack broke long ago. He told me so, in fact, at Indianapolis, and
made her cruel abandonment an excuse for borrowing five dollars of me."

"Well, we've got to get rid of _him_! He's doing all he can against us;
sending people to Kirkwood with stories about father, and the traction
business. I tell you, Fred," he declared ardently, "our family is in
danger of going to hell if you and I don't do something pretty quick to
stop it."

Fred puffed his pipe and watched his brother fidgeting nervously about
the room. A phonograph across the street called attention to a
moving-picture show. In the hotel office below, the porter proclaimed
the departure of the 'bus to connect with the six-three for Peoria and
all points Wes