more
vigorous personality of Mr. Teeters, who suddenly dominated the scene
from the door of the dining room where he had been listening intently.
As if no longer able to contain himself, Teeters strode forward, shaking
at Toomey the finger of emphasis:

"Then," he cried, "you'll do your suin' from a cell! If I hold in any
longer I'm goin' to choke! I'm goin' to speak, if she won't." He
motioned towards Kate. "I want these folks to know what that yella-back
has been keepin' to himself all these years for some reason that only
himself and the Almighty knows. _He_ owned the gun that killed Mormon
Joe! _He_ sold it to the 'breed,' Mullendore! _He_ could have proved
Kate Prentiss's innocence any time he wanted to--and _he kept his mouth
shut_! I'm no legal sharp, but I won't believe there ain't some law
that'll put the likes o' him where he belongs."

Toomey shrank under the attack as though beneath actual blows; he seemed
to contract beneath the focused gaze of eyes that contained anger,
scorn, in some instances, incredulity. He looked for a moment as though
he were going to faint, then he clutched the edge of the table cloth in
a convulsive grip, and shouted with an attempt at his old braggadocio:

"It's a lie!"

"It's the truth!" Teeters thundered, opposite. "Mullendore confessed.
Anyhow, I've got other proof--the original owner of the gun who left it
at your house when he was a kid. Feller--come out."

"Disston!" Toomey gasped as Hugh stepped from the semidusk of the
corridor into the light. The thing he had feared most since some ugly
perversity of his nature had kept him silent because of his dislike of
Mormon Joe and Kate had come to pass.

In the swift movement of events, matters of more interest were
transpiring than Toomey's nervous collapse. With a cry that has no
counterpart save as it comes straight from a woman's heart, Kate had
sprung to her feet and gone to Disston with her hands outstretched.

"Hughie! Hughie! You've come back. Speak--say something so I'll know
that I'm awake." The Boosters' Club and its guests did not exist for
Kate.

"Katie--Katie Prentice, is this wonderful girl you?" His face was
radiant with admiration and amazement as he held her at arms' length.

"For months and months, Hughie," she said softly, "I've wanted to tell
you that I was wrong and you were right. There is nothing of any great
importance except love. _Without it success is empty--empty as a gourd!_
Tell me, Hughie