Advancing quickly toward Caleb Hook, she grasped him by the hand.
"That's his voice," she whispered wildly. "Help me to bring that man to the hangman's scaffold and I'll fall down and bless you on my bended knees. It is Elijah Callister that robbed me of my husband; it is he who robbed me of my reason, and would have robbed me of my son. Oh, if I could only trust you, sir! If I could only trust you! How can a weak woman like myself, with no other help than that of this faithful boy, hope to bring justice upon his sinful head alone."
"You may trust me fully, madam. I too have a grievance against Elijah Callister. Will you help me to bring him into the grasp of the law which he has so long defied?"
"Yes—yes! Let them hang him as high as Haman! Oh, that I could only dance on his grave!"
She spoke wildly—excitedly. That her mind was far from clear was plainly to be seen.
That she hated Elijah Callister with a deep and bitter hatred was equally plain.
Caleb Hook, watching her closely, saw all this, and understanding that his opportunity had come, proceeded to grasp it at once.
"Tell me what you know, and you shall do it!" he said, emphatically. "I swear that your desire shall be fulfilled! Who and what is this smooth-spoken Callister—that's what I want to know?"
"Who is he?" cried the woman. "He is a hypocrite, a liar, a murderer, a thief! I have been watching him for weeks, and I know what I say is true. He is the man who concocted the robbery at the Webster bank, and tried to throw the crime upon my son."
"Ah! Then you are Mrs. Mansfield, the mother of Frank? I thought as much from the first."