“Will you get it?”

He went out as if he were glad to go.

“I didn’t mean to kill him,” the youngster said. “I don’t think I meant to.”

I nodded encouragingly, trying to look solemnly sympathetic.

“I don’t think I meant to kill him,” he repeated, “though I took the gun with me. You were right about my being cuckoo over Dinah⁠—then. It was worse some days than others. The day Willsson brought the check in was one of the bad ones. All I could think about was that I had lost her because I had no more money, and he was taking five thousand dollars to her. It was the check. Can you understand that? I had known that she and Thaler were⁠—you know. If I had learned that Willsson and she were too, without seeing the check, I wouldn’t have done anything. I’m sure of it. It was seeing the check⁠—and knowing I’d lost her because my money was gone.