town saw him? What if you saw him? What if you saw him strike the
blow with your own eyes? Wouldn't you tear them out of your own head
before you believed it? Wouldn't you cut your own tongue out before
you'd bear witness against him?"

Dorothy sobbed convulsively.

"I would," said Madelon.

Dorothy hid her face away from her in the pillow.

Madelon laid her hand on her fair head, and turned it with no gentle
hand. "Listen to me now," she said. "You've got to listen. You've got
to hear what I say. You ought to believe without being told, without
knowing anything about it, that he's innocent, if you're a woman and
love him; but I'm going to tell you. Burr Gordon didn't kill his
cousin Lot. I did!"

Dorothy gave a faint scream and shrank away from her.

"I did!" repeated Madelon. "Now do you believe he's innocent, when
somebody else has told you?"

Dorothy's face was white as her pillows, her eyes big with terror.
There was a soft thud against her door. The black woman was keeping
arduous watch.

"You couldn't!" Dorothy gasped out.

"I could! Look at my hands; they are as strong as a man's."