The Mark of Cain

“But you can’t, Kane,” and Avice spoke now from the shelter of his arms. “No one but Leslie can get you off. He says he will do so whether you are guilty or not. He is very clever.”

“Is he! But so are other people. I will get a lawyer who also is able to ‘get me off whether I am guilty or not’! Oh, Avice!”

“How can you? You have no money. Leslie says you will never get that inheritance from uncle.”

“Does he! Well, let me tell you, dear, I don’t care. My mine is an assured fact; my interests are safe and protected.”

“Where did you get the money for that?”

“Mrs. Black lent it to me. She is a fine business woman, and I turned to her, as the time was growing short and I had to have the money at once, if at all.”

“And I thought you were in love with her!”

“No; she was truly in love with Uncle Trowbridge. But she is a clear-headed financier, and saw at once the scope and promise of my mining interests. She and I will both be rich from that deal. And so, Avice, I can offer you a fortune, not so large as you would get by marrying Hoyt, but still, a fortune. Oh, darling, do you really love me!”

But Avice was weeping silently. “It doesn’t matter that I do, Kane; I am promised to Leslie, and you cannot be freed without his help.”

“I may not be,” said Landon, solemnly; “there is little hope as things stand now, except through Hoyt’s cleverness and, – well, shrewdness.”

“Kane, why should it require shrewdness to get you acquitted? Why, doesn’t your innocence speak for itself?”

“Am I innocent?”

And then the warden had to tell them the time was up, and Avice had to go away with that strange speech and that strange look on Kane’s face, indelibly impressed on her memory.

“Am I innocent?” If he were, why not say so; and if he were not, why not declare it to her and tell her the circumstances, which must have been such as to force him to the deed.

But out in the sunshine, outside that awful chill of the gloomy jail, Avice’s soul expanded to her new knowledge like a flower. Kane loved her! All other good in the world must follow! Suddenly she knew he was innocent! She fought back the thought that she knew it because she knew he loved her. She knew he would be freed! And fought back the thought that she knew it because she knew he was hers.

From an apathetic, hopeless inaction, she suddenly sprang to activity. She would find a way to save him without Hoyt’s help; then she would be free of her promise to the clever lawyer.

But how to go about it? It was one thing to feel the thrill of determination, the power of an all-conquering love, and quite another to accomplish her set purpose.

Hoyt came in the evening. With the canniness of her new-found love, Avice approached the subject in a roundabout way.

“I saw Kane this afternoon,” she began.

“You did! You went to the Tombs?”

“Yes; Leslie, that man is innocent.”

“Indeed! I wish you had the task of proving it to the G. P. instead of me. Avice, things are not going well. Whiting is saving up something; I don’t know quite what. But I confess to you I am afraid of his coming revelations.”

“What do you mean? Has he evidence that you don’t know of?”

“I’m not sure. He may have, and he may only pretend it to frighten me.”

“But you promised to free Kane!”

“And I will if I can. But, dear child, I am but human. It would take almost a miracle to clear that man from the network of circumstantial evidence that trips us up at every step. I assure you I am doing my best, and more than my best. You believe that?”

“Of course, I do,” and Avice studied the earnest, careworn face that looked into hers.

“And you also know why?”

“Yes,” came the answer in a low tone.

“Not because I believe him innocent, though I do believe him so, but because of your promise. That is what makes me work for his release, as I dare to say no counsel ever worked before. That is why I fear the result as I have never feared anything in my life. Because of my reward if I win! Because of you, you beautiful prize, that I shall deserve, when I conquer the fight!”

“Leslie, could no one else free Kane, but you?”

“No! a thousand times No! Who else would use every means, honorable or not! Who else would jeopardize his legal standing, forget professional ethics, resort to underhand methods, fearless of censure and opprobrium, so he but win his case? And all because a girl holds my heart in the hollow of her little white hand!”

Avice was amazed and almost frightened at his vehemence. What was she, she asked herself, that these two men should love her so desperately? Kane had not declared himself in such glowing words as Hoyt, nor had he expressed willingness to do wrong for her sake; but she knew his love was as deep, his passion as strong as that of his counsel.

“Leslie,” she began timidly, for she had determined to stake all on one throw; “if you free Kane, – ”

“Don’t say if, – say when!”

“Well, then, when you free him, won’t you, – won’t you let me off from my – my promise to marry you, – if I give you all the fortune?”

“Avice, what do you mean? Are you crazy? Of course I won’t! It is you I want, not the fortune. And, besides, you couldn’t do that. If you don’t marry me, the fortune goes to found a museum.”

“Yes, I know, – but, – you are so clever, Leslie, couldn’t you somehow break the will, or get around it, or – ”

“Dishonestly! Why, Avice!”

“But you’re freeing Kane dishonestly.”

“I am not! I fully believe Landon is innocent. But it seems impossible to find the real culprit, and it is to persuade the judge and jury, that I do things I would scorn to do in a less urgent case.”

“But Leslie, I don’t want to marry you.”

“Very well, then, don’t.”

“And you’ll free Kane, just the same?”

“Indeed I will not! Your lover may shift for himself. And we’ll see what verdict he will get!”

“Oh, Leslie, don’t talk like that! I shouldn’t think you’d want a girl who loves somebody else.”

“I’d far rather you’d love me, dear,” and Hoyt spoke very tenderly; “but I love you so much I’ll take you on any terms. And, too, I have faith to believe I can teach you to love me. You are very young, dearest, and in the years to come you will turn to me, though you don’t think so now.”

“Then you refuse to get Kane free, except on condition that I marry you?”

“I most certainly do.”

“Then listen to me, Leslie Hoyt! Go on and do your best for him. I promise that if you get him acquitted by your own efforts I will be your wife. But I also warn you, that I shall try to get him freed without your assistance, and if I do so, by any means whatever, that are in no way connected with your efforts, I shall not consider myself bound to you!”