The local Sergeant flushed angrily, stung to the quick by the rough incivility of his companion's speech and the cold, contemptuous stare that accompanied it, but sheer bodily fear of the ex-pugilist silenced the retort that sprang to his lips, and he sank back in the chair from which he had half arisen.
"Oh--nothing," he mumbled thickly. "I thought p'r'aps--"
"Yes," broke in Benton savagely. "I know what you _thought_, and I'll tell you this much, Mr. 'B----' Churchill.... If I hadn't given my evidence mighty darned careful, _you'd_ have been on the flypaper, properly, both feet. _Your_ name cropped up during the inquests--one of the jury-men gently inquiring 'why _you_ weren't present, as p'r'aps _you_ might have been able to throw some light on one or two obscure points in the inquiry.' But, luckily for you, none of the others took his suggestion up." He paused and, emitting a short, ugly laugh, continued: "I'm under 'open' arrest, an' I've got to go back with Inspector Purvis an' face a formal charge of manslaughter--same as in that Cashell business. We should worry, anyway. What gets _my_ goat is you thinkin' you were smart enough to cover up your trail in a little, one-horse '_dorp_' like this. D'you figure you could pull off anything like that, with all these old geezers of women around? What? I don't think. It's a good job for you none o' _them_ happened to be called as witnesses. All those who gave evidence were men, an' most of 'em friends o' yours, at that. See here; look! I couldn't exactly say how much you _did_ know, but I can make a pretty good guess. There was a lot you couldn't _help_ but tumble to, which puts this case entirely outside the ordinary. Anyway, it doesn't look as if you'd had much regard for your own nest."
He remained silent for a space then, his voice shaking ever so little:
"I've got no use for you, Churchill. I'm not stuck on you one little bit ... an' I guess that feeling is reciprocated, for I can see the mark of my fist on your blooming dial right to this very minute. Mind you, though, I'm not blaming you in any way for _all_ that's happened. That's out of the question--an' it wouldn't be logical, or fair. I'm not moralizing, either, for I reckon there's too many 'glass-with-care' labels on both of us to start slingin' rocks at each other--but all the same ... there's _something_ about this business I can't forget ... an' you know d--n well what that _something_ is!"