He had to take off his shirt so he could hear Arthur's lungs." "Well, I'm damned,--what did he do that for ?" cried Joe, profoundly astonished.
"It was a mercy I'd washed him first," added Nellie, not comprehending the reason of her husband's sudden show of interest though gratified by it.
"Lord, I thought you meant the doctor had took off his shirt!" said Joe.
"He's all right now, ain't he ?" "Yes, but he did have such an alarmin' cough; it hung on and hung on, it seemed to me like it was on his chest, but the doctor said no, and I was that relieved! I used some of the twenty dollars to pay him and to get medicine from the drug store." Joe was cramming his mouth full of cold meat and bread, and for the moment could not speak; when at length he could and did, it was to say: "I hear Andy Gilmore's left town ?" "Yes, all of a sudden, and no one knows where he's gone!" "I guess he's had enough of Mount Hope, and I guess Mount Hope's had enough of him!" remarked Joe.
"They say the police was goin' to stop the gamblin' in his rooms if he hadn't gone when he did." "Well, I hope he'll catch hell wherever he is!" said Joe, with a sullen drop to his voice.
"For a while after you left, Joe, they didn't give me no peace at all--the police and detectives, I mean--they was here every day! And Shrimplin told me they was puttin' advertisements in the papers all over the country." "What for ?" inquired Montgomery uneasily.
"They wanted to find out where you'd gone; it seemed like they was determined to get you back as a witness for the trial," explained Nellie.
Montgomery's uneasiness increased.

He began to wonder fearfully if he was in any danger, vague forebodings assailed him.

Suppose he was pinched and sent up.

His face blanched and his small blue eyes slid around in their sockets.

Nellie was evidently unaware of the feeling of terror her words had inspired, for she continued: "But it didn't make no difference in the end that you wasn't here, for everybody says it was you that hanged John North; you get all the credit for that!" Montgomery's hands fell at his side.
"Me hanged John North! _Me hanged John North!_" he repeated.