He wrenched off his wet coat and dropped into Steve's chair.
He had a gauntness that Conal used not to have. But his eyes, those eyes of fierce tenderness, were the eyes of the big brotherly man who had been the companion of so many of her and the Schoolmaster's wanderings.
She quickly put some food on the table for him, set the kettle on the bar over the fire, and while he was eating told him what she knew of Davey's arrest and Dan's going to swear Davey's innocence of the charge brought against him.
"Why did he do that? Davey was more in it than he was," Conal asked savagely.
"I don't know," Deirdre hesitated. "Yes, I do, Conal. It was because Mrs. Cameron—"
"Oh, that was it, was it?"
Conal went on eating, hungrily.
"What do they say about here? Do they think Davey'll get off and Dan'll have to pay?"
"You've heard of Mr. Cameron's death, Conal?" Deirdre asked. "They say that'll make all the difference. Davey can't very well be accused of stealing his own cattle, and McNab—"
"What has he got to say about it? Of course it's his hand in it all."