"Can you expect me to believe that?" she asked, with weary, bitter eyes.
"I'm not that kind of a liar. And you know it. If I lied--if I kept silent when honor should have made me speak, it was to spare you. I came to Cottonwoods to tell you. But I couldn't add to your pain. I intended to tell you I had come to love this girl.
But, Jane I hadn't forgotten how good you were to me. I haven't changed at all toward you. I prize your friendship as I always have. But, however it may look to you--don't be unjust. The girl is innocent. Ask Lassiter."
"Jane, she's jest as sweet an' innocent as little Fay," said Lassiter. There was a faint smile upon his face and a beautiful light.
Venters saw, and knew that Lassiter saw, how Jane Withersteen's tortured soul wrestled with hate and threw it--with scorn doubt, suspicion, and overcame all.
"Bern, if in my misery I accused you unjustly, I crave forgiveness," she said. "I'm not what I once was. Tell me--who is this girl?"
"Jane, she is Oldring's daughter, and his Masked Rider. Lassiter will tell you how I shot her for a rustler, saved her life--all the story. It's a strange story, Jane, as wild as the sage. But it's true--true as her innocence. That you must believe,"
"Oldring's Masked Rider! Oldring's daughter!" exclaimed Jane "And she's innocent! You ask me to believe much. If this girl is--is what you say, how could she be going away with the man who killed her father?"
"Why did you tell that?" cried Venters, passionately.
Jane's question had roused Bess out of stupefaction. Her eyes suddenly darkened and dilated. She stepped toward Venters and held up both hands as if to ward off a blow.
"Did--did you kill Oldring?"
"I did, Bess, and I hate myself for it. But you know I never dreamed he was your father. I thought he'd wronged you. I killed him when I was madly jealous."
For a moment Bess was shocked into silence.
"But he was my father!" she broke out, at last. "And now I must go back--I can't go with you. It's all over--that beautiful dream. Oh, I knew it couldn't come true. You can't take me now."
"If you forgive me, Bess, it'll all come right in the end!" implored Venters.
"It can't be right. I'll go back. After all, I loved him. He was good to me. I can't forget that."
"If you go back to Oldring's men I'll follow you, and then they'll kill me," said Venters, hoarsely.
"Oh no, Bern, you'll not come. Let me go. It's best for you to forget mot I've brought you only pain and dishonor."
She did not weep. But the sweet bloom and life died out of her face. She looked haggard and sad, all at once stunted; and her hands dropped listlessly; and her head drooped in slow, final acceptance of a hopeless fate.
"Jane. look there!" cried Venters, in despairing grief. "Need you have told her? Where was all your kindness of heart? This girl has had a wretched, lonely life. And I'd found a way to make her happy. You've killed it. You've killed something sweet and pure and hopeful, just as sure as you breathe."
"Oh, Bern! It was a slip. I never thought--I never thought!" replied Jane. "How could I tell she didn't know?"
Lassiter suddenly moved forward, and with the beautiful light on his face now strangely luminous, he looked at Jane and Venters and then let his soft, bright gaze rest on Bess.
"Well, I reckon you've all had your say, an' now it's Lassiter's turn. Why, I was jest praying for this meetin'. Bess, jest look here."
Gently he touched her arm and turned her to face the others, and then outspread his great hand to disclose a shiny, battered gold locket.
"Open it," he said, with a singularly rich voice.
Bess complied, but listlessly.
"Jane--Venters--come closer," went on Lassiter. "Take a look at the picture. Don't you know the woman?"
Jane, after one glance, drew back.
"Milly Erne!" she cried, wonderingly.
Venters, with tingling pulse, with something growing on him, recognized in the faded miniature portrait the eyes of Milly Erne.
"Yes, that's Milly," said Lassiter, softly. "Bess, did you ever see her face--look hard--with all your heart an' soul?"
"The eyes seem to haunt me," whispered Bess. "Oh, I can't remember-- they're eyes of my dreams--but--but--"
Lassiter's strong arm went round her and he bent his head.
"Child, I thought you'd remember her eyes. They're the same beautiful eyes you'd see if you looked in a mirror or a clear spring. They're your mother's eyes. You are Milly Erne's child.
Your name is Elizabeth Erne. You're not Oldring's daughter.
You're the daughter of Frank Erne, a man once my best friend.
Look! Here's his picture beside Milly's. He was handsome, an' as fine an' gallant a Southern gentleman as I ever seen. Frank came of an old family. You come of the best of blood, lass, and blood tells."
Bess slipped through his arm to her knees and hugged the locket to her bosom, and lifted wonderful, yearning eyes.
"It--can't--be--true!"
"Thank God, lass, it is true," replied Lassiter. "Jane an' Bern here--they both recognize Milly. They see Milly in you. They're so knocked out they can't tell you, that's all."
"Who are you?" whispered Bess.
"I reckon I'm Milly's brother an' your uncle!...Uncle Jim! Ain't that fine?"
"Oh, I can't believe--Don't raise me! Bern, let me kneel. I see truth in your face--in Miss Withersteen's. But let me hear it all--all on my knees. Tell me how it's true!"
"Well, Elizabeth, listen," said Lassiter. "Before you was born your father made a mortal enemy of a Mormon named Dyer. They was both ministers an' come to be rivals. Dyer stole your mother away from her home. She gave birth to you in Texas eighteen years ago.