The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume 2 by Robert E. Howard

Author:Robert E. Howard [Howard, Robert E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-345-50250-6
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

When Glory Bland ran from the backroom of the Golden Garter, her soul was in an emotional turmoil that almost amounted to insanity. The shock of her brutal disillusionment vied with passionate shame of her own gullibility and an unreasoning anger. Out of this seething cauldron grew a blind desire to hurt the man who had unwittingly hurt her. Smarting vanity had its part, too, for with characteristic and illogical feminine conceit, she believed that he had practiced an elaborate deception in order to fool her into falling in love with him – or rather with the man she thought he was. If he was false with men, he must be false with women, too. That thought sent her into hysterical fury, blind to all except a desire for revenge. She was a primitive, elemental young animal, like most of her profession of that age and place; her emotions were powerful and easily stirred, her passions stormy. Love could change quickly to hate.

She reached an instant decision. She would find Hopkins and tell him everything Corcoran had told her! In that instant she desired nothing so much as the ruin of the man she had loved.

She ran down the crowded street, ignoring men who pawed at her and called after her. She hardly saw the people who stared after her. She supposed that Hopkins would be at the jail, helping guard the prisoners, and she directed her steps thither. As she ran up on the porch Bill McNab confronted her with a leer, and laid a hand on her arm, laughing when she jerked away.

“Come to see me, Glory? Or are you lookin’ for Corcoran?”

She struck his hand away. His words, and the insinuating guffaws of his companions were sparks enough to touch off the explosives seething in her.

“You fool! You’re being sold out, and don’t know it!”

The leer vanished.

“What do you mean?” he snarled.

“I mean that your boss is fixing to skip out with all the gold you thieves have grabbed!” she blurted, heedless of consequences, in her emotional storm, indeed scarcely aware of what she was saying. “He and Corcoran are going to leave you holding the sack, tonight!”

And not seeing the man she was looking for, she eluded McNab’s grasp, jumped down from the porch and darted away in the darkness.

The deputies stared at each other, and the prisoners, having heard everything, began to clamor to be turned out.

“Shut up!” snarled McNab. “She may be lyin’. Might have had a quarrel with Corcoran and took this fool way to get even with him. We can’t afford to take no chances. We’ve got to be sure we know what we’re doin’ before we move either way. We can’t afford to let you out now, on the chance that she might be lyin’. But we’ll give you weapons to defend yourselves.

“Here, take these rifles and hide ’em under the bunks. Pete Daley, you stay here and keep folks shooed away from the jail till we get back. Richardson, you

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.