She would not have appeared quite so adorably cold-blooded, quite so sweetly unconscious of the fact that he was dying.

If McTrigger's freedom had meant anything to her, she could not have done less than reveal to him a bit of sympathy.

And her greatest compliment, if he excepted the kiss, was that she had called him a splendid liar! Kent grimaced and drew in a deep breath because of the tightness in his chest.

Why was it that every one seemed to disbelieve him?
Why was it that even this mysterious girl, whom he had never seen before in his life, politely called him a liar when he insisted that he had killed John Barkley?
Was the fact of murder necessarily branded in one's face?
If so, he had never observed it.

Some of the hardest criminals he had brought in from the down-river country were likable-looking men.