Twisted Trails (16 page)

Paul placed his hand on her shoulder and said slowly, "No, Helen, you didn't kill him. I did. It was my job. But you did save my life."

"Thank heaven for that," Helen said through her sobs.

Then Norah was leading him into the house, forcing him onto the couch. She gave him a drink of brandy, and he felt the fire of it flow through him. The pain was bearable now. Norah stripped off his shirt, his boot, cut open the leg of his pants. Then, somehow, Helen was there with hot water and bandages. Together they stopped the bleeding and made him comfortable.

"It's not so bad," Norah said with sympathy. "The slugs were wild, and there's not much blood. A bone in your leg is splintered, but it will be all right until the doctor gets here."

"I love you, Norah," he said, trying to grin.

He saw the bright tears in her eyes. "But you're going away," she said. Then, without waiting for his answer, she reached over to the table and, picking up a letter, handed it to him. "Finch had it," she said simply.

Helen avoided his eyes. He did not need to ask how Finch had acquired it. Helen spoke as though to herself, but loudly enough for them to hear.

"I was a fool, a blind, unreasonable fool. I started out to cultivate him for Norah's sake, but he knew she could see through him, so he worked on me. Why does a woman my age forget everything good and honest and clean when a man like Alonzo plies her with flattery? But I wouldn't have gone away with him. Pray God that Uriah never suspected. I found out at the last just what Alonzo was. I didn't want to believe it, even though I knew the gold he made me hide for him was stolen. He made me give him that letter. When I heard what was said out in the yard, and when I saw he was willing to sacrifice Norah to save himself, I was convinced of the things about him I tried not to believe, and I knew fury and hate."

"Don't fret about him, Helen," Paul said. "He deserved to die. The pity of it was he suffered so little compared to what he made others suffer."

"Read it," Paul said, handing the letter to Norah.

She read:

Dear Son: You can give up on Finch. His father, Lucius Finch, died of a stroke. He confessed that he had aided Finch in that robbery you were accused of, because his business was going broke. That was how he was able to keep going when others could not. It was his plan to plant the money on you and get you to the scene of the crime. You can come home any time you want now. Love, Dad and Mother.

"I'm not going away," Paul said, "and I love you, Norah."

"You're not going away without me," she said, kneeling by the couch. "I've loved you from the first time I saw you."

"This is a growing country," Paul said. "It needs a marshal."

He couldn't say any more, because her lips had taken command of the situation.