"You might have pulled them too soon and spoiled her game, Chief." Ross smiled slyly. "Besides, you had said something about being tarred with the same brush, remember, and I wanted to prove to you who was crooked and who wasn't."
McCormick reddened.
"My boy, I told you I'd be the first to apologize, and I do, most heartily. But what could I think? You were shielding the young lady with the scar at every turn, double-crossing me, and—say!" He broke off and faced the girl. "Did you ever hear of a peppery old lady named Madame Dumois?"
"Oh, yes!" She dimpled, delightfully. "Herbert is going to produce me in—in a little while!"
Then her face clouded and she shuddered.
"There is one question I have not dared to ask, although it has beaten into my brain day and night since that awful hour. Who killed George Breckinridge?"
"Jack Wolvert," the Chief responded slowly. "He has confessed, and will pay the penalty of his crime."
CHAPTER XX.
Treasure Trove.
"You see the murder of Breckinridge was an unexpected complication in the plans of the gang," McCormick explained, when the girl's first intense horror at the knowledge of the slayer's identity had been partially overcome. "They had never before gone so far as to take life. Breckinridge had the reputation of being pretty swift and he's been mixed up in more than one scandal. He must have been meat for the Atterbury gang until he revolted, but he made a big mistake then. Instead of going to the police and braving a public inquiry, or coming to me, he chose to play a lone hand against the blackmailers, and lost. He traced the ringleaders to the Atterbury house and attempted to confront them single-handed. How he managed to elude the watchdog isn't known, but he got in through a dining-room window which Welch had left unfastened. It was only after the murder that the crook who played butler was so careful to lock up the house at night.