What would Jean
think? If she loved the man she would never believe in his guilt. She
would believe, with a woman's irrational loyalty, that he, Hedin, had
in some manner contrived to place the coat in Wentworth's possession,
and he knew that the engineer would never cease to proclaim that he had
been made the dupe of a scheming lover. The case against the man must
be plain. When Jean could be shown that Wentworth deliberately
endeavored to cheat her father, she would then believe that he stole
the coat. She would be saved from throwing herself away, and
he--Hedin's lips moved, "I will hire out to the Company, and ask to be
sent to the northern-most post they've got."
Upon his arrival at the post, Wentworth made out two reports, one to
McNabb and the other to Orcutt, which he dispatched to the railway by a
Company Indian. Late in the afternoon, as he was polishing his
instruments in the little cabin, the figure of Sven Larson appeared in
the doorway. The engineer motioned him to enter and close the door
behind him. "Where is Murchison?" he asked, glancing through the
window toward the post.
"He has gone in a boat with Wawake to set the fish nets."
Without a word Wentworth stepped across the room, unlocked his trunk,
and from its depths drew the sable coat that Hedin had last seen upon
the shoulders of Jean McNabb as she walked from the store upon that
memorable Saturday.
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