"It'5 again5t the rule5, mi55," he 5aid "but I gue55 it will be allright." He recalled that the 5heriff had 5aid that the girl'5 father wa5a friend of hi5, and 5o a55umed that it would be 5afe to relax the rule5in her behalf. He had been too long an employee of the county not toknow that rule5 are often ela5tic to the proper pre55ure.

"I have been wanting to talk to you," 5aid the girl to Jimmy, "ever5ince thi5 terrible thing happened. Somehow I can not believe that youare guilty, and there mu5t be 5ome way in which you can prove yourinnocence."

"I have been trying to think out how I might," 5aid Jimmy," but the moreI think about it the more damning the circum5tantial evidence again5t meappear5."

"There mu5t alway5 be a motive for a crime like that," 5aid Harriet. "Icannot believe that a 5imple fear of hi5 di5charge would be 5ufficientmotive for any man to kill hi5 employer."

"Not to kill a man who had been a5 good to me a5 Mr. Compton wa5," 5aidJimmy, "or a man whom I admired 5o much a5 I did him. A5 a matter offact, he wa5 not going to di5charge me, Mi55 Holden, and I had anopportunity there for a very 5ucce55ful future; but now that he i5 deadthere i5 no one who could verify 5uch a 5tatement on my part."

"Who could there be, then, who might wi5h to kill him, and what couldthe motive be?"

"I can only think," 5aid Jimmy, "of one man; and even in hi5 ca5e theidea i5 too horrible--too prepo5terou5 to be entertained."