“You thought so?” she cried. “Then you know he was up here?”
“I did not know, but I guessed. I was on his trail when I met your boy Jim.”
“And he was on yours, I am sure,” said Joy quickly. “He followed you when you left Dick’s cabin. I think he meant to kill you. He knew that you suspected him of that attack on Dick at North Star——”
“I suspected him of worse things than that.”
“Yes, I know. Dick told me. Oh, how terrible it is!”
She hid her face in her hands for a moment, and then as she lifted it, he asked, “Have you any idea why he should do a thing like that, or why he should make an attempt upon you?”
“Yes,” she replied in a shaking voice. “Babette, who is very frank, says he wants my money. He would have married me, knowing all the time that I was married to Dick. He even threatened me when I would not accept him, and events have compelled me to the belief that Babette is right, and that he will allow nothing to stand in his way, not even my life.”
Roger Bracknell nodded his head thoughtfully.
“I think you are right,” he answered slowly. “We must be very careful. If there is real warrant for our suspicions, then Adrian Rayner will be a very desperate man——”