whole thing burst upon her. "Hiram Halbeck!
Hiram Halbeck, the thief--I read it all in the papers--the thief that
you caught, and that got away. And you've left the Mounted Police
because of it--oh, Nett!" Her eyes were full of tears, her face was
drawn and grey.

He nodded. "I didn't know who he was till I arrested him," he said.
"Then, afterward, I thought of his child, and let him get away; and for
my poor old mother's sake. She never knew how bad he was even as a
boy. But I remember how he used to steal and drink the brandy from her
bedside, when she had the fever. She never knew the worst of him. But
I let him away in the night, Jo, and I resigned, and they thought that
Halbeck had beaten me, had escaped. Of course I couldn't stay in the
Force, having done that. But, by the heaven above us, if I had him here
now, I'd do the thing--do it, so help me God!"

"Why should you ruin your life for him?" she said, with an outburst
of indignation. All that was in her heart welled up in her eyes at the
thought of what Foyle was. "You must not do it. You shall not do it. He
must pay for his wickedness, not you. It would be a sin. You and what
becomes of you mean so much." Suddenly with a flash of purpose she
added: "He will come for that letter, Nett. He would run any kind of
risk to get a dollar. He will come here for that letter--perhaps today."

He shook his head moodily, oppressed by the trouble that was on him.
"He's not likely to venture here, after what's happened."

"You don't know him as well as I do, Nett. He is so vain he'd do it,
just to show that he could. He'd' probably come in the evening. Does any
one know him here? So many people pass through Kowatin every day. Has
any one seen him?"

"Only Billy Goatry," he answered, working his way to a solution of the
dark problem. "Only Billy Goatry knows him. The fellow that led the
singing--that was Goatry."

"There he is now," he added, as Billy Goat passed the window.

She came and laid a hand on his arm. "We've got to settle things with
him," she said. "If Dorl comes, Nett--"

There was silence for a moment, then he caught her hand in his and held
it. "If he comes, leave him to me, Jo. You will leave him to me?" he
added anxiously.

"Yes," she answered. "You'll do what's right-by Bobby?"

"And by Dorl, too," he replied strangely. There were loud footsteps
without.

"It's Goatry," said Foyle. "You stay here. I'll tell him everything.
He's all right; he's