“I haven’t seen her this week,” he said. “I suppose she dreaded coming. I don’t blame her. I should like to have seen her once more, though!”
Presently they stood in silence for several moments.
“You’d better go, dad,” said the boy. “Go back to mother and Eva. Don’t take it too hard. It isn’t so bad, after all. I have led a bully life, and I have never forgotten once that I am a Pennington. I shall not forget it to-morrow.”
The father could not speak. They clasped hands once, the older man turned away, and the guards led Custer back to the death cell for the last time.
CHAPTER XXXVII
It was morning when the colonel reached the ranch. He found his wife and Eva sitting in Custer’s room. They knew the hour, and they were waiting there to be as near him as they could. They were weeping quietly. In the kitchen across the patio they could hear Hannah sobbing.
They sat there for a long time in silence. Suddenly they heard a door slam in the patio, and the sound of some one running.
“Colonel Pennington! Colonel Pennington!” a voice cried.
The colonel stepped to the door of Custer’s room. It was the bookkeeper calling him.