"No, not ill. He was killed—struck down in anger by Nate Tierney."
"By Nate? Good Nate, who has been so kind; who was such a friend? I can't believe it!"
"Nor I, hardly. Only poor Bill is dead with a broken skull, and Nate in the lock-up. The man—Hapgood, of course—came home drunk, and began abusing Lucy. Nate saw her running from him and snatched the billet of wood that her father was chasing her with. Then they fought, and Bill was finished. It happened not two hours ago."
You will perceive that Dalton told the story as he had heard it, not just as it happened. But his version was the one generally accepted at that time. Joyce clasped her hands together with a passionate movement.
"Dreadful! Dreadful! Poor Lucy; poor Nate!"
"You don't say poor Bill, Miss Lavillotte."
"No, it is the living who are to be pitied here, and Nate most of all. He did it for Lucy's sake, I know; it was to save her from her father's fury. There can be no doubt of that. Did you say that he is already in the lock-up? Where is that?"
He told her.
"I must go to Lucy first," she mused. "How does the poor child bear it?"
"Badly for a time, but she is more quiet now. The French sisters and Rachel are with her, and a lot of other women, who might be spared."