"No," said a woman's voice in a whisper. "It's the maid, Hattie. Be
careful. There's a guard at the top of the stairs."
He heard her moving to his outer door, and he knew that she stood
there, listening, her head against the panel. When she was satisfied she
slipped, with the swiftness of familiarity with her surroundings, to the
stand beside his bed, and turned on the lamp. In the shaded light he saw
that she wore a dark cape, with its hood drawn over her head. In some
strange fashion the maid, even the woman, was lost, and she stood,
strange, mysterious, and dramatic in the little room.
"If you found Jud Clark, what would you do with him?" she demanded. From
beneath the hood her eyes searched his face. "Turn him over to Wilkins
and his outfit?"
"I think you know better than that."
"Have you got any plan?"
"Plan? No. They've got every outlet closed, haven't they? Do you know
where he is?"
"I know where he isn't, or they'd have him by now. And I know Jud Clark.
He'd take to the mountains, same as he did before. He's got a good
horse."
"A horse!"
"Listen. I haven't told this, and I don't mean to. They'll learn it in
a couple of hours, anyhow. He got out by a back fire-escape--they know
that. But they don't know he took Ed Rickett's black mare. They think
he's on foot. I've been down there now, and she's gone. Ed's shut up in
a room on the top floor, playing poker. They won't break up until about
three o'clock and he'll miss his horse then. That's two hours yet."
Bassett tried to see her face in the shadow of the hood. He was puzzled
and suspicious at her change of front, more than half afraid of a trap.
"How do I know you are not working with Wilkins?" he demanded. "You
could have saved the situation to-night by saying you weren't sure."
"I was upset. I've had time to think since."
He was forced to trust her, eventually, although the sense of some
hidden motive, some urge greater than compassion, persisted in him.
"You've got some sort of plan for me, then? I can't follow him haphazard
into the mountains at night, and expect to find him."
"Yes. He was delirious when he left. That thing about the sheriff being
after him--he wasn't after him then. Not until I gave the alarm. He's
delirious, and he thinks he's back to the night he--you know. Wouldn't
he do the same thing again, and make for the mountains and the cabin? He
went to the cabin before."