“I did it just in the nick of time, too, for a ‘cop’ having got wind that something wrong was up, came running down the street; so I just dropped a bracelet, which Tom had made me stuff in my pocket, down beside the fallen hero, to turn the scent upon him, and took to my heels.
“Tom served me a mean trick, though,” the man went on, with a scowl, “for he had only been slightly stunned by his fall, and while I was fighting with the young chap, instead of coming to my help, he picked up the bag, cleared out and hid it, and it was only a piece of good luck that I got off at all. He said afterwards he thought I was able to take care of myself, and he was afraid if he did not slip off with the booty the noise of the rumpus would bring a cop along, and we’d lose it all. But he’d got it hid before I found him, and I never saw anything of it afterward, excepting the diamonds.
“I coaxed, begged and threatened, but he kept putting me off with excuses; and, of course, I’d been with him so much in his dirty work that he knew I would not dare turn against him, for I should only get as deep into the mire as he would.
“As long as I was well, and able to help him in his plots, I managed to squeezed enough out of him to keep us tolerably comfortable; but after I got sick we all began to suffer.
“Miss Dalton,” the man said, excitedly, “Tom Drake is a rich man; he’s got money and swag enough hid up to keep a dozen families handsome all their lives. Why, those diamonds o’ your mother’s were a fortune in themselves, and we’ve been starving and freezing here for the last two months; he’s known it, too, and wouldn’t give us a dime to buy a loaf of bread with.
“But I am dying now; he can’t harm me, and the law can’t touch me, and I’ve outwitted him at last; his meanness is half that’s made me want to show him up, and if you will only bring him to justice, you’ll do the world a favor, besides clearing that fine young chap, who was as brave as a lion, from disgrace; for I tell you Tom Drake is one of the worst robbers in the United States.”
He paused, and Editha thought he had got through. She hoped he had, for she felt she could not sit there much longer; it was as much as she could do to keep in her chair and feel that that fearful face, with those fierce, restless black eyes, was looking down upon her, watching her every movement.
But the invalid resumed, after resting a moment:
“We, Tom and me, went to court every day while the youngster was being tried for the robbery we had committed; and we thought it fine fun that the scent had been so completely turned from us to him. It was as clear a case of circumstantial evidence as I ever heard of, and many’s the joke we’ve cracked at that poor fellow’s expense. But, miss, I must confess I’ve had mighty uncomfortable dreams over it since lying here sick, and thinking of him locked in behind those bolts and bars for three long years, and he as innocent as a baby all the time, and we abroad doing more of the devil’s work.”
He really appeared deeply moved, and Editha knew that he must have suffered on account of it.