"You were mistaken, Janet. I've said before that I feared you were, but the prosecuting attorney has witnesses to the gun-play that he's dug up. Martinez saw nothing; how could he from inside the office? And remember that you're only a girl, Janet; in the darkness and with the excitement you were confused. I haven't a doubt this scoundrel Weir made you believe you saw what never occurred, when you appeared in Martinez' office. When you've thought it over, you'll realize that yourself. These new witnesses tell just the reverse of what you fancied happened. I'm going to see that you're away from San Mateo when the man's tried, as he will be." No reply coming from her, he continued: "He deceived you then and he'll endeavor to poison your mind right along. You're too trustful. Now, I was angry at first, but if there was anything in this meeting to-night that was out of the way, it was his doing, I know. If he got familiar with you, as Burkhardt hinted----" "Well?" "I'll kill the dog with my own hands!" "You may rest easy. His conduct was irreproachable, Mr. Burkhardt to the contrary." Sorenson regarded her in perplexity, divided between anger and doubts. Too, a new feeling unaccountably sprang into his breast--jealousy. In the end apprehension all at once filled his mind, darkening his face and bringing down his brows. Uneasy as at first he had been after the row in the restaurant, he had eventually dismissed the matter from his mind, for no rumor of it had reached San Mateo. Neither Weir nor Johnson, the girl's father, had blabbed of it, so his alarm passed; they didn't want to talk of it for the girl's sake, any more than he wished it known, was his grinning conclusion. The deuce would have been to pay if Janet had got wind of the business. But now his fears came winging back a hundred-fold as he stared at her. "What did he say to you?" he asked, in a tense voice. "Not that tone with me, if you please." Sorenson, however, was past observation of her mood or temper. "He told you a lot of lies about me, didn't he?" he went on, not hiding the sneer. "And you believed them." "He didn't say much, but what he did say was to the point. I don't recall that there were any lies." "There were, of course. It would be just his chance to give you his made-up story about me and that Johnson girl. That was what so interested you." "No, he didn't say anything about you and any girl except me. Then he only said he was sorry he couldn't have the pleasure of my friendship----" "Ay-ee," the other grated. His lips worked above his teeth. A shudder passed over Janet Hosmer's skin at the sound and the sight, for she had never seen him like this. A cold hand might have been closing about her heart: his glare was animal-like and bestial. His nature at the instant stood unclothed. "And he said he would be at pains to avoid even chance meetings with me, because it would make talk and cause me annoyance."