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Page 40
"He told me about the bowl and the spoon, John Keith did," he said,
nodding toward them. "He told me just what I'd find here, even to that.
You see, he loved the place greatly and everything that was in it. It
was impossible for him to forget even the bowl and the spoon and where
he had left them."
It was easier after that. The old home was whispering back its memories
to him, and he told them to Mary Josephine as they went slowly from
room to room, until John Keith was living there before her again, the
John Keith whom Derwent Conniston had run to his death. It was this
thing that gripped her, and at last what was in her mind found voice.
"It wasn't YOU who made him die, was it, Derry? It wasn't you?"
"No. It was the law. He died, as I told you, of a frosted lung. At the
last I would have shared my life with him had it been possible.
McDowell must never know that. You must never speak of John Keith
before him."
"I--I understand, Derry."
"And he must not know that we came here. To him John Keith was a
murderer whom it was his duty to hang."
She was looking at him strangely. Never had he seen her look at him in
that way.
"Derry," she whispered.
"Yes?"
"Derry, IS JOHN KEITH ALIVE?"
He started. The shock of the question was in his face. He caught
himself, but it was too late. And in an instant her hand was at his
mouth, and she was whispering eagerly, almost fiercely:
"No, no, no--don't answer me, Derry! DON'T ANSWER ME! I know, and I
understand, and I'm glad, glad, GLAD! He's alive, and it was you who
let him live, the big, glorious brother I'm proud of! And everyone else
thinks he's dead. But don't answer me, Derry, don't answer me!"
She was trembling against him. His arms closed about her, and he held
her nearer to his heart, and longer, than he had ever held her before.
He kissed her hair many times, and her lips once, and up about his neck
her arms twined softly, and a great brightness was in her eyes.
"I understand," she whispered again. "I understand."
"And I--I must answer you," he said. "I must answer you, because I love
you, and because you must know. Yes, John Keith is alive!"
XVI
An hour later, alone and heading for the inspector's office, Keith felt
in battle trim. His head was fairly singing with the success of the
morning. Since the opening of Conniston's chest many things had
happened, and he was no longer facing a blank wall of mystery. His
chief cause of exhilaration was Mary Josephine. She wanted to go away
with him. She wanted to go with him anywhere, everywhere, as long as
they were together. When she had learned that his term of enlistment
was about to expire and that if he remained in the Service he would be
away from her a great deal, she had pleaded with him not to reenlist.
She did not question him when he told her that it might be necessary to
go away very suddenly, without letting another soul know of their
movements, not even Wallie. Intuitively she guessed that the reason had
something to do with John Keith, for he had let the fear grow in her
that McDowell might discover he had been a traitor to the Service, in
which event the Law itself would take him away from her for a
considerable number of years. And with that fear she was more than ever
eager for the adventure, and planned with him for its consummation.
Another thing cheered Keith. He was no longer the absolute liar of
yesterday, for by a fortunate chance he had been able to tell her that
John Keith was alive. This most important of all truths he had confided
to her, and the confession had roused in her a comradeship that had
proclaimed itself ready to fight for him or run away with him. Not for
an instant had she regretted the action he had taken in giving Keith
his freedom. He was peculiarly happy because of that. She was glad John
Keith was alive.
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