Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-12-13

swiftly. HAD you realized that II
Amos was on the Ridge that night,
as he must have been to tell Larry
the story he did, the chances are ex-
cellent that he saw you-as well as
the eight-foot-tall ghost?"
Megan nodded, her face white but
her outward composure commend
able. II know that he did, Dad,"
she said quietly. ''He told Larry"
Her fathers body jerked like a
marionette on a string manipulate
ed by an inexpert puppeteer.
Told Larry-that you were on the
Ridge with Fallon?" he repeated
sharply.
Megan nodded.
For moment Jim was very still,
like man suddenly paralyzed. And
then very carefully he asked, Ibid
you tell that fellow Reynolds?"
Megan shook her head, her hands
cold in her lap.
"He-didn't seem to think it was
necessary" she managed the words
with difficulty. HE seemed to think
that the fact that I was there gave
me an alibi. If was there at that
time, couldn't possibly have been
across the road-even if I had had
a motive"
Her father nodded. (which, Of
course, means that Larry doesn't
know l intended to try to marry her
and bring her here" he finished the
thought for her. Then he smiled, a
mirthless smile that made him look
suddenly very old and very tired.
"Now if only somebody had seen
me going for my walk"
perhaps somebody did," said
Megan eagerly.
after left Alicia" he said quiet
ly and distinctly.
She stiffened little and her eyes
were wide.
"You-saw her-that night?" she
whispered, her lips pallid.
Eat eleven-thirty," said Jim and
heaved sigh as he ran his fingers
through his magnificent crop of sill
very-gray hair. 1.-THE way I figure
it, she couldn't have been alone, aft
er l left her, more than ten or fif-
teen minutes"
His fingers trembled little as he
filled his handsome pipe and tamped
the tobacco carefully into the mel
low bowl, but his eyes did not leave
Megan's white, frightened face.
1--WE quarreled," said Jim quietly,
distinctly, "when she admitted that
she had not the slightest idea of
marrying me. She called me
pompous old fool, and a no-'count
stuffed shirt and lot Of equally
uncomplimentary things. But 1 did
not kill her, Megan, l swear it,
Suddenly Megan was on her knees
beside him, her arms close about
him, her cheek hard against his, all
the ugliness and the animosity that
had colored their relations for years
wiped out between them in this mo-
ment when she ached with pity for
him, and when for the first time in
her adult life she had begun to have
some glimmering of understanding
him.
"Of course you didn't, dear-no
one could believe for moment that
you did," she told him, her voice
shaken with emotion.
Jim put his arm about her and
seemed to welcome her nearness,
the sheer creature comfort of her
warm presence and her sympathy.
THANK you, my dear-but I'm
afraid great many people could
be persuaded to believe that l did,"
he pointed out to her at last. 1.-THE
circumstantial evidence against me
is pretty strong. We did quarrel.
Undoubtedly I am the last person.
save one!-to see her alive. And
when left her, in fury of injured
pride and bruised self-esteem,
went for long walk alone, and saw
no one. returned home here well
after one o'clock-by which time
she had been dead, according to the
doctor, for at least an hour. So
you see"
But you didn't-you couldn't
have done it, Dad! Nobody could
ever make me believe you did," she
comforted him, as though he had
been the child, she the parent.
1t was long before she slept that
illSll, Uul Ill Splle Vi the unpleasant
turmoil and excitement of the last
forty-eight hours. she was more at
peace than she had been in a long
time. She could begin to understand
her father a little; and to under
stand is to forgive.
She was conscious only of the fact
that she and her father might hope
to live together now with less fric-
ton, less luminosity than before And
the thought had healing and COM
fort in it. She was able to fall
asleep at last, emotionally and phys
ically exhausted, and when she
awoke in the morning, she felt
stronger and more refreshed than
in many months, in spite of the
horror of the last twenty-four hours,
and in spite of knowing that the next
few days were gong to be far from
pleasant.
She had finished her morning
chores, and was busy with a seed
catalog and an order blank when
I