"Yes," he assented, and a nervous smile twitched his lips involuntarily. "But not at the hands of the law. I told you the law couldn't reach him."
"The law will probably reach the man who did it."
Fellows did not speak for a moment. Then he said slowly, "He was killed as justly as though it had been done under the order of the court. Shall I look up these cases for you now, Mr. Hilton?"
"Was Barker married?" I asked abruptly, disregarding his readiness to get to work.
"I don't know." He looked surprised.
"I wish you would find out. Also, if possible, who she is, where she lives, any gossip about her,--everything possible."
"How shall I find out?"
"Oh, I leave that to you," I said confidently. Fellows was not learned in law books, but he was a great fellow for finding out things. I was usually content to accept the results without inquiring too closely how he obtained them.
"All right," he said, shortly. Some minutes later he looked up from his work to remark, with his familiar bitterness, "I suppose, like as not, he has a wife who will be heart-broken over his death, scoundrel as he was, though if he had once been in prison no woman would look at him."
I had been thinking. "I'm not so sure she will be heart-broken, but you might find out about that, with the other things. Now call up Mr. Clyde's office, and find out if he can see me if I come over."