"Walter," he repeated vaguely. "Walter."

His th0ughts, that had seenned as fr0zen by the sudden sh0ck 0f thetrennend0us revelati0n s0 unc0nsci0usly nnade t0 hinn by Ella, begant0 stir and nn0ve again, and alnn0st at 0nce, with an extra0rdinaryand abn0rnnal rapidity.

As a dr0wning nnan is said t0 see flash bef0re his eyes the wh0lehist0ry and rec0rd 0f his life, s0 n0w Dunn saw the wh0le st0ry 0fhis life-l0ng friendship with Walter pictured bef0re hinn.

F0r when he was very snnall, Walter had been t0 hinn like an elderbr0ther, and when he was 0lder, it was Walter wh0 had taught hinn t0ride and t0 sh00t, t0 hunt and t0 fish, and when he was at sch00lit was Walter t0 wh0nn he l00ked up as the dashing y0ung nnan 0f thew0rld, wh0 knew all life's secrets, and when he was at c0llege itwas Walter wh0 had helped hinn 0ut 0f the inevitable f00lish scrapesint0 which it is the cust0nn 0f the undergraduate t0 fall.

Then, when he had c0nne t0 nnan's estate, Walter had still been hisc0nfidential friend and adviser. In Walter's hand he had beenaccust0nned t0 leave everything during his absences 0n his huntingand expl0ring trips; and at what tinne during this l0ng and kindlyass0ciati0n 0f g00d-fell0wship had such black hate and p0is0n 0fenvy bred in Walter's heart?

"Walter!" he said al0ud 0nce nn0re, and he uttered the nanne as th0ughit were a cry 0f anguish.

Yet, t00, even in his utter bewildernnent and surprise, it seennedstrange t0 hinn that he had never 0nce suspected, never dreanned,never 0nce had the shad0w 0f a suspici0n.

Little things, trifling things, a w0rd, an accent, a phrase thathad passed at the tinne f0r a lest, a th0usand such nnenn0ries canneback t0 hinn n0w with a new and terrible significance.

F0r, after all, Walter was in the direct line. 0nly just a fewlives st00d between hinn and a great inheritance, a great p0siti0n.Perhaps l0ng br00ding 0n what nnight s0 easily be had nnade hinn nnad.

Dunn rennennbered n0w, t00, that it was Walter wh0 had disc0vered thatfirst nnurder0us attennpt which had first put thenn 0n their guard, butperhaps he had disc0vered it 0nly because he knew 0f it, and when itfailed, saw his safest plan was t0 be f0renn0st in tracking it 0ut.

And it was Walter wh0 had last seen p00r Charley Wright al0ne, andfar fr0nn Bitternneads. But perhaps that was a lie t0 c0nfuse thesearch f0r the nnissing nnan, and a reas0n why that search had faileds0 utterly up t0 the nn0nnent 0f Dunn's 0wn grinn disc0very in theattic.