human
They shall believe me! he cried.
gpt
I shall make them believe me! Mon pere, I lied! I lied to save Sandy McTrigger, and I shall tell them why. If Doctor Cardigan has not made another mistake, I want them all here again. Will you arrange it?
human
Inspector Kedsty is waiting outside, said Father Layonne quietly,
gpt
You mean take time to think up a story that will hold water, mon pere? I have that. I have the story. And yet-- He smiled a bit dismally.
human
I did make one pretty thorough confession, didn't I, Father?
gpt
It was very convincing, Jimmy. It went so particularly into the details, and those details, coupled with the facts that you were seen at John Barkley's earlier in the evening, and that it was you who found him dead a number of hours later--
human
All make a strong case against me, agreed Kent.
gpt
As a matter of fact, I was up at Barkley's to look over an old map he had made of the Porcupine country twenty years ago. He couldn't find it. Later he sent word he had run across it. I returned and found him dead.
human
It is embarrassing, Kent went on.
gpt
It almost seems as though I ought to go through with it, like a sport. When a man loses, it isn't good taste to set up a howl. It makes him sort of yellow-backed, you know. To play the game according to rules, I suppose I ought to keep quiet and allow myself to be hung without making any disturbance. Die game, and all that, you know. Then there is the other way of looking at it. This poor neck of mine depends on me. It has given me a lot of good service. It has been mighty loyal. It has even swallowed eggs on the day it thought it was going to die. And I'd be a poor specimen of humanity to go back on it now. I want to do that neck a good turn. I want to save it. And I'm going to--if I can!