But what disturbed him most was the presence of people he had not expected.
Close behind Kedsty was McDougal, the magistrate, and behind McDougal entered Constables Felly and Brant, stiffly erect and clearly under orders.

Cardigan, pale and uneasy, came in last, with the stenographer.
Scarcely had they entered the room when Constable Pelly pronounced the formal warning of the Criminal Code of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, and Kent was legally under arrest.
He had not looked for this.

He knew, of course, that the process of the Law would take its course, but he had not anticipated this bloodthirsty suddenness.

He had expected, first of all, to talk with Kedsty as man to man.

And yet--it was the Law.