"Hush, Lindy," said Jed.
"I calculate you'd best both of you talk," said Scattergood. "You'd
better tell me, Jed, jest why you shot Asa Levens."
Lindy Briggs uttered a choking cry and clutched her husband; Jed Briggs
stared at Scattergood with hunted eyes.
"It'll be best for you to tell. I'm standin' your friend, Jed
Briggs.... Better tell me than the sheriff.... Asa Levens was here
Tuesday night...."
"He excused us from payin' our int'rest," said Jed, and then he, too,
laughed shrilly. "Let us off our int'rest. Lindy told me when I come
home. Couldn't hardly b'lieve my ears." Jed was talking wildly,
pitifully. "Lindy was a-layin' on the floor, sobbin', when I come home,
and she was afeard to tell me why Asa let us off our int'rest, but I
coaxed her, Mr. Baines, and she told me--and so I shot Asa Levens 'cause
he wa'n't fit to live."
Scattergood nodded. "Sich things was wrote on Asa's face," he said. "But
what about Abner? Wa'n't goin' to let him suffer f'r your act, Jed? What
about Abner?"
"Him too.... All of that blood.... I met Abner on the road of a Tuesday
when I wa'n't quite myself with all that had happened, and I stopped his
hoss and accused his brother to his face.
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