“Oh, I’m not afraid of any real friend thinking me capable of a cowardly deed like that,” replied Willoughby. “But it is nice to have these kind messages, although I could have wished, Miss Farnsworth, that you had not seen me amid such surroundings.”
“Do you think that we would desert you in such a time of trouble as this?” replied Merle, as she sat down. “But seeing that our visit is to be restricted to half an hour, it is well that we should get to the important points without delay. I have been talking over a certain matter both with mother and Mr. Robles, and although I shrink from telling it, they have decided that you must know about the affair.”
She then proceeded, in a low voice and with lips that trembled, to tell how young Thurston had forced his attentions on her just a little time before the shooting occurred and how Tia Teresa had rescued her from his clutches.
This was the first that Dick had heard of the incident and his face flushed with anger. But Merle quieted him at once. “You need not be angry now, Mr. Willoughby. It is all over. But your lawyer will want to consider what bearing this may possibly have upon the case.”
“It can have no bearing at all,” maintained Dick. “In the first place I didn’t even know till now that Marshall had been visiting at La Siesta. And in the second place, just as I was saying to Munson a few minutes ago, I am determined that the names of you ladies shall not be dragged into this miserable affair. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Darlington?”
“In a measure. But all the same we are ready to stand by you so as to establish your innocence with the least possible delay. I heard this morning that Mr. Thurston is very bitter against you, keeps vowing vengeance, and announces that no money will be spared to bring the slayer of his son to retribution.”
“Well, I hope he’ll find him without loss of time,” smiled Dick. “That will be the quickest and easiest way to get me out of confinement. But at this moment I have not the faintest idea on whom to fasten the charge. Lots of the cowboys despised young Thurston, but none were really his enemies, and I don’t know any one among the bunch who would have shot him in that dastardly, cold-blooded manner.”
“Which makes the situation for you all the more disagreeable,” commented Munson. “You had been known to threaten him, and if there is no one else to whom suspicion can point, you may be kept here, Dick, for quite a time—for months, perhaps, until the case goes to trial.”
Dick’s face fell. “For months!” he exclaimed. “Surely that would be an outrage.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be too despondent,” protested Merle. “Besides, Mr. Robles has pledged his word to me that you will be free in a very brief time.”