"You've got four thousand of my money there, ma'am.
You're to keep it.

Mebbe that will help to show what my intentions were.

About the rest--your brother an' all--I'll have to tell you.
It's a thing you ought to know, an' I don't know what's been keepin' me from tellin' you all along.
"Mebbe it was because I was scared you'd take it hard.

But since these sneaks have got to waggin' their tongues it'll have to be told.

If you sit down by the table there, I'll tell you why I done what I did." She took a chair beside the table and faced him, and, standing before her, speaking very gently, but frankly, he related what had occurred to him in the desert.