"Shut up!" she said savagely; "you make me sick!" She glared malignantly at him. "Ugh, I positively loathe you! I must have been crazy when I thought I saw something in you!" She paused for an instant to get her breath, and then she resumed, vindictively:
"I hope they arrest you for killing those two men—Link and Givens. I hope they hang you. And they will hang you, because you can't prove you acted in self-defense. You'll be sorry you didn't marry me when you realize that I might have saved you by telling the truth about the fight!"
"Well," he said; "you can't testify without admitting you were here, you know."
"And I will never tell!" she declared; "I will never admit it!" she added, exultingly. "You'll change your mind about marrying me—you'll have to, to save your neck!"
Lawler shook his head negatively.
"You wouldn't marry me to save your life?" asked the girl, incredulously.
"Not to save my life, Miss Wharton."
"Well," she said slowly; "you're a damned fool!"
Lawler smiled and turned away. He heard Della moving about in the cabin, but he did not look around.
But later, after there had been a deep silence for a time, he ventured a backward glance. During the day he had kept the dividing blanket rolled up out of the way, fastening it with two loops that he had suspended from the ceiling. The blanket was now down—it was the first time Della had touched it.