"I can get out of the whole business here and now," he muttered. "A single shot planted in the right place will do it. If I hold on, I shall kill Cassie and Merriwell sure as fate!"
He heard voices and drew back a little, still remaining seated on the ground.
Two persons came down the road past him and stopped by the little bridge. They were Cassie and Frank. His eyes blazed, and the revolver trembled in his hands. He half lifted it, thinking:
"I can get them both before I empty every chamber!"
Cassie was speaking.
"I owe it all to you, Frank," she was saying, and Havener heard her plainly. "I am sure I am getting rid of the awful habit now. You know I can play without using morphine at all, and it all comes because you encouraged me to pray. I didn't think it would do any good for a girl like me to pray, but it has."
"If I have helped you, Cassie, I am thankful. I discovered your secret by accident, and I have kept it faithfully, though I fear Havener suspects all is not right because there is a secret between us."
"I will tell him all at once. He is changed lately, but I love him just the same. He will be all right when he knows the truth. You know I told you I would never, never marry him till I got rid of the habit. It is you, Frank, who have made it possible for me to become his wife."
Havener rose to his feet as quietly as he could, drawing back and hiding himself by the bushes. He stole away from the spot, quivering in every limb.
"And I thought of committing suicide!" he whispered, as he hastened away. "I thought of committing murder! What a fool I have been! Thank God the discovery of my folly came in time! Thank God! thank God!"