Jack flashed a startled look at him.  It seemed to him his cousin showed an uncanny knowledge at times.  “You think so.”

“He wanted to tell you that he was goin’ to cut your brother out of his will an’ leave you sole heir.  An’ he wanted you to let James know it right away.”

Kirby was guessing, but he judged he had scored.  Jack got up and began to pace the room.  He was plainly agitated.

“Look here.  Why don’t you go back to Wyoming and mind your own business?  You’re not in this.  It’s none of your affair.  What are you staying here for hounding the life out of James and me?”

“None of my business!  That’s good, Jack.  An’ me out on bond charged with the murder of Uncle James.  I’d say it was quite some of my business.  I’m gonna stick to the job.  Make up your mind to that.”

“Then leave us alone,” retorted Jack irritably.  “You act as though you thought we were a pair of murderers.”

“If you have nothin’ to conceal, why do you block anyway?  Why aren’t you frank an’ open?  Why did you steal that record at Golden?  Why did James lose the Jap’s confession—­if it was a confession?  Why did he get Miss McLean to disappear?  Answer those questions to my satisfaction before you talk about me buttin’ in with suspicions against you.”

Jack slammed a fist down on the corner of the desk.  “I’m not going to answer any questions!  I’ll say you’ve got a nerve!  You’re the man charged with this crime—­the man that’s liable to be tried for it.  You’ve got a rope round your neck right this minute—­and you go around high and mighty trying to throw suspicion on men that there’s no evidence against.”

“You said you had a quarrel with your uncle that night—­no, I believe you called it a difference of opinion, at the inquest.  What was that disagreement about?”

“Find out!  I’ll never tell you.”

“Was it because you tried to defend James to him—­tried to get him to forgive the treachery of his fiancee and his nephew?”

Again Jack shot at him a look of perplexed and baffled wonder.  That brown, indomitable face, back of which was so much strength of purpose and so much keenness of apprehension, began to fill him with alarm.  This man let no obstacles stop him.  He would go on till he had uncovered the whole tangle they were trying to keep hidden.

“For God’s sake, man, stop this snooping around!  You’ll get off.  We’ll back you.  There’s nowhere nearly enough evidence to convict you.  Let it go at that,” implored Jack.

“I can’t do that.  I’ve got to clear my name.  Do you think I’m willin’ to go back to my friends with a Scotch verdict hangin’ over me?  ’He did it, but we haven’t evidence enough to prove it.’  Come clean, Jack!  Are you and James in this thing?  Is that why you want me to drop my investigations?”

“No, of course we’re not!  But—­damn it, do you think we want the name of my brother’s wife dragged through the mud?”