Dwight pursed his lips in a solemn whistle. “Gad! Some folks would say it was none of my business, but I can’t stand by and see you facing the thing so pluckily and not lend a hand.”
“What did Mr. Purcell do?” Julie demanded heavily.
“He’s been taking his meals at the bachelors’ mess lately—while he had no cook. To-day at the lunch table he brought up your name, and he meant to do it to death. But he was clever about it. He didn’t want any one to stop him before he’d let out his powder. He began by saying that you were engaged to Adams. You bet that made a stir—your being engaged all the while you were letting the rest of us give you a rush! Purcell said that he had seen Adams here in this town with you, that he had made that fatal ride to see you, and that he himself had seen you kiss Jack Adams good-by. Moreover, he declared, that when the anxiety about Adams was at its height you informed the Major that Adams had been in Guindulman and confessed your relation to him. That was a stagger for us—all right, Julie, you’ll admit. He said that the Major himself had told him all this.
“Now several of us had liked you, Julie, ever so much—and we got rather excited at your way of playing the game. Purcell went on to say that you had had an affair with him, and with Terry, who had also kissed you—along with Adams and others. Seems he got the information about Terry from Miss Hope. He also said you owed money to everybody, and that the firms in Solano had written continuously to him about it. But when the creature, quite gone with hatred and jealousy, said that you had borrowed money from him, and that anybody could have you for a sweet-heart, I kicked him out.”
Dwight had not dared to look at her during this recital. Her head was bent down over her two clenched hands which lay in her lap.
“Kenneth was not there!” she murmured, illimitable satisfaction in her quivering voice.
“But he was there!” Dwight cried—only to regret the next moment that he had spoken.
Julie had shot up out of her chair and was gazing at him with wide eyes of horror. As she stood there staring out of her ghastly pale face, and not speaking, a sense of fear for her rose in Dwight.
“I tell you, Julie, I’ll stand by you through everything!” he vowed.
She clutched hard at the back of the chair for support. Her limbs were weak; her soul was shaken to its uttermost depths, but she must still make a stand against this falling world.