e been here?"

"Miss McIntyre--here?" Clymer stared in amazement at his questioner.
"No, certainly not."

"Don't be so positive," retorted the lawyer heatedly, his color rising
at the other's incredulous tone. "Helen McIntyre telephoned me to meet
her, and--by Jove, here she comes," as a slight stir at the back of the
court room caused him to glance in that direction.

A gray-haired patrolman, cap in hand, was in the lead of the small
procession which filed up the aisle, and Clymer gazed in astonishment
at Helen McIntyre and her twin sister, Barbara. What had brought them at
that hour to the police court?

The court room was filled with men, both white and black, while a dozen
or more slatternly negro women were seated here and there. The Assistant
District Attorney's plea for a postponement of the Sylvester case on the
ground of the absence of an important witness and the granting of his
plea was entirely lost on the majority of those in the court room, their
attention being wholly centered on Helen McIntyre and Barbara, whose
bearing and clothes spoke of a fashionable and prosperous world to which
nearly all present were utterly foreign.

Barbara, sensitive to the concentrated regard which their entrance had
attracted, drew closer to Dr. Amos Stone, their family physician,
who had accompanied them at her particular request. Except for Mrs.
Sylvester, she and her sister were the only white women in the room.

Before they could take the seats to which they had been ushered, the
clerk's stentorian tones sent the girls' names echoing down the court
room and Barbara, much perturbed, found herself standing with Helen
before the clerk's desk. There was a moment's wait and the deputy
marshal, who had motioned to one of the prisoners sitting in the "cage"
to step outside, emphasized his order with a muttered imprecation to
hurry. A slouching figure finally shambled past him and stopped some
little distance from the group in front of the Judge's bench.

"House-breaking," announced the clerk. "Charge brought by--" He looked
up at the two girls.

"Miss Helen McIntyre," answered one of the twins composedly. "Daughter
of Colonel Charles McIntyre of this city."

"Charge brought by Miss Helen McIntyre," continued the clerk,
"against--" and his pointed finger indicated the seedy looking man
slouching before them.

"Smith," said the latter, and his husky voice was barely audible.

"Smith," repeated the clerk. "First name--