Presently Lucy's voice broke suddenly upon their silence. "I wonder what became of his sisters!" Her color rose as she spoke and she gazed with exaggerated interest at a tall, yellow-flowered cactus beside the road. "Whose sisters, Lucy?" her father asked carelessly, flicking the horses to a faster pace. But his heart sank as he thought, "She did hear it all!" "Why, Mr. Conrad's. You know he said he was left when he was only fifteen with two younger sisters and a little brother to take care of." "Oh--Conrad--I don't know. They are probably married by this time. That was a long time ago. I've heard him mention his sisters before, I think. Yes; I recall now that he has told me they are both married and prosperous somewhere in Illinois or Iowa." "And his younger brother?" "Oh, he's just a young fellow, and Curtis is putting him through college. Conrad banks with me, and I've noticed his checks sometimes when they come back." "How good he is to them! It must have been very hard on him," Lucy's tone was sympathetic, but her father replied briskly: "Oh, I don't know! Responsibility is sometimes just the thing to bring out all the good there is in a young fellow and show what sort of stuff he's made of." "I suppose that's why he's never married," Lucy went on, following her own line of thought, her voice still sounding the sympathetic note, "because he had to take care of the others." "I don't suppose that's a fault in your eyes, my dear." "Of course not, daddy!" Lucy flashed back, smiling and dimpling. "Of course a girl likes a young man better because he's more interesting and can pay her more attention. You would yourself, daddy, if you were a girl." "Very likely, my dear. But I like Curtis Conrad well enough, even if I'm not as young as you are and of your sex. I was disappointed in him to-day, though, and surprised as well. You must have heard what he said; how did it strike you to hear a young man boast of his intention to commit murder?" He spoke so earnestly and the persuasive quality in his voice was so insistent that Lucy turned upon him a quick look of surprise and question. Then her eyes fell as a sudden rush of emotion, coming she knew not whence or why, almost choked her utterance. "I don't know," she began tremulously, "perhaps he wouldn't really do it--I don't believe he would--he seems too good and kind to be really wicked or cruel." She stopped a moment, only to break out abruptly: