"Oh, Goyle. I was afraid--where?"
"In Michigan, at fifteen minutes to eleven, yesterday. I have cause to
note the time. The load--"
"Well, go ahead. But let me tell you now, George, you have no cause to
regret the broken association. I deplore the man's death, of course,
but I begun to feel that his influence upon you was bad. I had begun to
dream about him, and to fear that he had a strange influence upon me.
But go ahead."
"Half of it was crushing me, and I can't stand it all. I--"
"Why, what's the matter? What are you trying to tell. Go ahead."
"Judge, Goyle robbed the safe--Goyle and I--wait--I gave him the
combination--he made up for Howard--I--"
The Judge seized the shears and raised them high above his head, his
eyes fixed on Bodney's breast. Bodney did not flinch. The old man
raised his eyes, to meet a steady gaze; and he stood with the shears
high in his hand. He had uttered no outcry, no sound came from him, no
sound that could have been heard beyond the door--only a low groan, like
the moan of a fever-stricken man, turning over in his sleep.
[Illustration: The Judge seized the shears and raised them high above
his head.]
"Kill me, Judge, I deserve it."
The shears fell from the old man's hand, and he dropped upon the chair,
his arms upon the table and his face upon them.
"I wish you had struck me."
With a slight motion of the hand the Judge waved him off. Bodney
continued: "For your heart there is a cure. There is none for mine. I
was a fool, I was caught, I gambled, I couldn't quit, that snake held
me, charmed me, hypnotized me. I knocked him down and he bled black on
the floor, and I left him lying there, but I could not break loose from
him."