CHAPTER XXXVIII
Professor Young knocked at the Skinner hut. Tess smiled at him from between the tatters of the curtain, and unlocked the door, standing, as her friend took the wooden rocker.
"Daddy air a-comin' home," she breathed timidly.
"Soon. Sit down, child. I have much to say to you.... We have discovered the murderer of the gamekeeper. We have positive proof that it was not your father."
Tess squatted on the floor, crossed her legs, and waited.
"Who were it?" she asked presently, as if afraid to speak.
"Ben Letts."
"The damn bloke!" she ejaculated, a dangerous light gathering in her eyes. "And he were a-lettin' Daddy be hung for his own dirty work! He air a wicked cuss, he air!"