I got out there in Ohio that caused me to jump for the
train."

He produced from his pocket a crumpled telegram which read:

Your daughter is in safe hands at Huddleston, Michigan. Proceed to
that point with serenity and contemplate the stars with a tranquil
spirit.

This was so clearly the Governor's work that Archie found it difficult
to refrain from laughing.

"My wife," Congdon continued, "would never send a message like that; you
may be sure of it. You may think it queer that I set off, when I was ill
and not feeling up to the trip, on the strength of a message like that.
But ever since that girl told me I oughtn't to hesitate when I heard the
bugle I can't resist the temptation to act on the spur of the moment.
I'm a fool, I suppose. Tell me I'm a fool, Comly."

"I shall do nothing of the kind. There's always the chance that the girl
had sized you up right and gave you sound advice. Don't answer if you
don't want to, but have you really done anything, anything you wouldn't
have done if that girl hadn't told you to step on the world a little
harder?"

Congdon's free hand worked convulsively; he bent closer to Archie and
whispered:

"I've killed a man!"

"You murdered a man!" Archie gasped.

"Not a question about it, my dear fellow! It was up at my house on the
Maine shore. After father had driven my wife away I went there to look
at the ruins of my home. A sentimental pilgrimage, feeling that I'd made
a mess of everything and mighty blue. I was mooning through the house
when I ran into a burglar. The scoundrel had gone to bed in the guest
room. I was scared to death when I opened the door and spotted him but I
thought of that girl's advice and pulled my gun and shot him. Couldn't
have missed the fellow across a bedroom. As I ran down the stairway he
took a shot at me; that's what's the matter with my shoulder. I got up
to Portland and a doctor I know there fixed me up and kept the thing
dark. I passed at the hospital as the victim of a pistol wound
accidentally inflicted."

"Well, I'd say you're out of it easy. Of course you didn't kill him or
he wouldn't have been able to wound you. I congratulate you on your
escape!"

"Thanks, Comly; but you see he didn't die immediately, but crawled off
and breathed his life out in some lonely place. It's horrible! Of course
he was a thief and had no business in the house; but as I sit here on
this park bench I'm a murderer! I never got beyond the headlin