Again there was absolute silence
between him, a troubled silence filled with pain. Then suddenly he
leaned close to her, threw out his hand for Persis's rein, jerked both
horses back to a fretful standstill.
"Can't you see what you force me to do?" he demanded half angrily. "Do
you picture what your denunciation would do for me? Do you think that
I can let you make it?"
His face was so near hers that she could see it clearly in the pallid
light. He could see hers and that it was lifted fearlessly.
"How will you stop me?" she asked quietly.
"I will finish Jim Galloway out of hand," he told her savagely. "It
will no longer be the representative of the law against the lawbreaker;
it will just be Norton and Galloway, both men! I will accomplish the
one other matter I have planned. Both will require not over three or
four days. During that time . . . I tell you, Virginia, I have grown
into a free man, a man who does what he wants to do, who takes what he
wants to take, who is not bound by flimsy shackles of other men's
codes. During those three or four days I shall see that you do no
talking!"
Once more, her voice quickened, she asked:
"How will you stop me?"
"We have come to a deadlock; argument does no good. Either I must
yield to you or you to me.
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