The lure of Piper's Glen

by Theodore Goodridge Roberts

"You told me that you shot him!"

"Yes, I told you so—but I didn't!"

"What are you driving at? If you didn't shoot him, then why did you ask me to run away like a coward? What good did it do you—my making a coward and a fool of myself—if you were innocent?"

"Can't you see?"

"No, I can't."

"I—I thought you had done it. What else could I think? And I wanted you to get away."

"But after I told you I didn't do it? It was not until then that you said you shot him!"

"I am ashamed of myself—miserably ashamed!"

"So it was just a silly trick, Flora? Nothing but an idiotic joke, to see what I would do for you."

"But it wasn't—a joke—or a trick," she sobbed. "I—I didn't believe you. I wanted you—to escape—but I wanted you to—trust me. And I thought you—would confess to me—if I said I did it."