"Then that exonerated Old Hucks," said Patsy, relieved.

"Oh, not at all. Hucks may have committed the deed and McNutt knows
about it. Or they might have been partners in the crime."

"What else have you learned, Louise?" asked Beth.

"That the man West knows what became of the money."

"He seems like a very respectable man," asserted Patsy.

"Outwardly, yes; but I don't like the cold, calculating expression in
his eyes. He is the rich man of this neighborhood. Do you suppose he
acquired a fortune honestly in this forsaken district, where everyone
else is poor as a church mouse?"

"Seems to me," said Patsy, discontentedly, "that the plot thickens, as
they say in novels. If we interview many more people we shall find
ourselves suspecting an army."

"Not at all, my dear," replied Louise, coldly. "From our present
knowledge the murder lies between the unknown avenger and Hucks, with
the possibility that McNutt is implicated. This avenger may be the
stranger who posed as a physician and said Captain Wegg died of heart
disease, in order to prevent the simple people from suspecting a murder.
His fishing was all a blind. Perhaps McNutt was his accomplice. That
staring scarecrow would do anything for money. And then we come to the
robbery. If Hucks did the murder he took the money, and perhaps West,
the hardware dealer, knows this. Or West may have arrived at the house
after the mysterious stranger committed the deed, and robbed the two