"
"Really, I--Why--I suppose you know what you're talking about, but
it sounds incredible."
"Yes, it must to you--especially since you never knew the facts.
Very few people did know then, even at the time, for there were no
newspapers in that part of Mexico; you, of course, were a boy at
school in the United States. Nevertheless, it's true. That part of
the story which I didn't know at the time I learned by talking
with General Guadalupe and others. It was very shocking."
Dave's face was a study; his color had lessened slightly; he wet
his lips. "This is news, of course," said he, "but it doesn't
explain my mother's death. Who killed her, if not the Guadalupes?"
"Can't you guess? That's what I meant when I said they had to kill
Frank Law." Ellsworth maintained his fixity of gaze, and when Dave
started he nodded his head. "It's God's truth. The details were
too--dreadful. Your father turned his hand against the woman he
loved and--died a wife-killer. The Guadalupes had to destroy him
like a mad dog. I'm sorry you had to learn the truth from me, my
boy, but it seems necessary that I tell you. When I knew Frank Law
he was like any other man, quick-tempered, a little too violent,
perhaps, but apparently as sane as you or I, and yet the thing was
there.
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