Duane could not believe it. But there he was, without a choice. What he had feared for years had become a monstrous reality. Respect for himself, blindness, a certain honor that he had clung to while in outlawry--all, like scales, seemed to fall away from him. He stood stripped bare, his soul naked--the soul of Cain. Always since the first brand had been forced and burned upon him he had been ruined. But now with conscience flayed to the quick, yet utterly powerless over this tiger instinct, he was lost. He said it. He admitted it. And at the utter abasement the soul he despised suddenly leaped and quivered with the thought of Ray Longstreth.
Then came agony. As he could not govern all the chances of this fatal meeting--as all his swift and deadly genius must be occupied with Poggin, perhaps in vain--as hard-shooting men whom he could not watch would be close behind, this almost certainly must be the end of Buck Duane. That did not matter. But he loved the girl. He wanted her. All her sweetness, her fire, and pleading returned to torture him.
At that moment the door opened, and Ray Longstreth entered.
“Duane,” she said, softly. “Captain MacNelly sent me to you.”
“But you shouldn't have come,” replied Duane.
“As soon as he told me I would have come whether he wished it or not. You left me--all of us--stunned. I had no time to thank you. Oh, I do-with all my soul. It was noble of you. Father is overcome. He didn't expect so much. And he'll be true. But, Duane, I was told to hurry, and here I'm selfishly using time.”
“Go, then--and leave me. You mustn't unnerve me now, when there's a desperate game to finish.”
“Need it be desperate?” she whispered, coming close to him.
MacNelly had sent her to weaken him; of that Duane was sure. And he felt that she had wanted to come. Her eyes were dark, strained, beautiful, and they shed a light upon Duane he had never seen before.
“You're going to take some mad risk,” she said. “Let me persuade you not to. You said--you cared for me--and I--oh, Duane--don't you--know--?”
The low voice, deep, sweet as an old chord, faltered and broke and failed.
Duane sustained a sudden shock and an instant of paralyzed confusion of thought.
She moved, she swept out her hands, and the wonder of her eyes dimmed in a flood of tears.