He thinks he has discovered proofs from a saloon-keeper
named Connelly, who keeps a vile resort somewhere down in the worst part
of New Haven. Connelly says you were intoxicated at his house that
night. But I told father that the same fellow who gave him the
information against you in the first place must have hired Connelly to
say that. A man who will sell liquor will lie, you know, Buck!"
Badger was violently trembling, but Winnie, in the ecstatic joy of
meeting him, did not notice it. There was a tempest in the Kansan's
soul. Winnie's sweet and trusting faith in him filled him with an
anguishing shame. Could he tell her now that he was drunk that
night--that all the things said against him by Connelly and that unknown
informant were true? Would she not turn against him if he did? Would she
not despise him? Would not her love be obliterated? Badger felt as if
the ground were reeling under his feet.
Once he was about to give away to the evil impulses that were fighting
against him. But he did not. At last, as she chattered on, so strongly
asserting her faith in his innocence, he caught her convulsively to him.
"Winnie!" he gasped, and his voice was so hoarse and unnatural that she
was startled. "My God! Winnie, don't say those things! I know that when
I confess the truth to you you will feel that I am the biggest scoundrel
that ever walked.
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