hed as though to spring. As quick as the
gleam of a viper's tongue, Leighton's long arms shot out. Straight for
the man's throat went his hands. They closed, the long, white fingers
around a swarthy neck, thumbs doubled in, their knuckles sinking into
the throat. Lewis felt as though it were his own eyes that started from
their sockets. With a scream, he turned and ran.

He cast himself beneath the shelter of the first low-hanging
orange-tree. He saw the Reverend Orme stalk by, bearing Shenton in his
arms. For the first time in his life Lewis heard the sobs of a grown
man, and instinctively knew himself the possessor of a secret thing--a
thing that must never be told.

At the house, alarmed by Natalie's incoherent, excited chatter and
Lalia's stubborn silence, Mrs. Leighton waited in suspense. Leighton
entered with his burden and laid it down. Then he turned. She saw his
face.

"Orme!" she cried, "_Orme!_" and started toward him, groping as though
she had been blinded.

"Touch me not, Ann," spoke Leighton, with a strange calmness. "Thank
God! the mark of Cain is on my brow."

CHAPTER VI

That very night Leighton sought out his friend, the chief of police. He
told him his story from the first creeping fear for his boy to the
moment of terrible vengeance.

"So you killed him, eh?" said the chief, tossing his cigarette from him
and thoughtfully lighting another. "Too bad. You ought to have come to
me first, my friend, turned him over to us for a beating. It would have
come to the same thing in the end and saved you a world of trouble. But
what's done, is done. Now we must think. What do you suggest?"

Amazement dawned in Leighton's haggard face.

"What do _I_ suggest?" he answered. "What does the _law_ suggest, sir?
Are there no courts and prison-bars In this country for--for----"

"There, there," interrupted the chief. "As you say, there are courts, of
course, gaols, too; but our accommodations for criminals are not
suitable for gentlemen."

"It is not for me to choose my accommodation, sir. I am here to pay the
penalty of my crime. I have come to be arrested."

"Arrested?" repeated the chief, staring at Leighton. "Are you not my
friend? Are you not the friend of all of us that count?"

"But--but----" stammered Leighton.

"Yes, sir," repeated the chief, "my friend."

"What do you mean?" cried Leighton. "Do you mean you will leave my
punishment to my conscience--to my God?"

The chief looked at