once the thing is made public. The judges are soaking people hard...
You might get off, and then again you _might not_. Would you like to
put your wife in the position of having a convict for a husband? ...
Think it over."

Fred sat down. He was not beaten yet. After all, what did Helen think
about this arrangement? Had they spoken to her? Some of her methods in
the past had not been to his taste, but they were the best means to an
end that she knew. And she always had been loyal. Ah yes, in a scratch
women did rise to the occasion! For an instant he remembered the
parting comment of his cell companion of Saturday night:

"If you've got a dame stuck on you there's always a chance."

He turned to Watson with a smile of triumph.

"I'll leave the thing to Mrs. Starratt," he said, confidently. "I
think I can depend upon her to stand by me, whatever happens..."

Watson reached into his inner coat pocket.

"I've a note from her here," he said, handing Starratt a square
envelope.

Fred broke the seal and unfolded the contents deliberately. He read
very slowly... When he had finished he read it through again. He sat
for some moments on the edge of the bed, tapping his lips with a
tentative finger. Finally he rose.

"Well, Mr. Watson," he said, bitterly, "I said I'd stand by Mrs.
Starratt's decision. And I'm a man of my word."

Watson rose also. "You won't regret this, I'm sure," he ventured,
heartily. "Meanwhile I'll get busy pulling wires at once. It won't do
to let this thing get cold. I'll go right out and see Hilmer now...
Any message you'd like to give your wife?"

Fred looked at the man before him searchingly. "No ... none!"

Watson bowed himself out... Fred Starratt put both hands to his
temples.

CHAPTER X

The days that followed passed in a blur. Fred Starratt went through
the motions of living, but they were only motions. Between the
intervals of legal adjustments, court examinations, and formal red
tape he would lie upon his narrow bed at the hotel reading his wife's
message--that sharp-edged message which had shorn him of his
strength--as if to dull further his blunted sensibilities. In all this
time he saw only Watson. He did not ask for Hilmer or Helen. But one
day the attorney said to him:

"Your wife is still ill, otherwise--" "Yes, yes ... of course," Fred
assented, dismissing the subject with an impatient shrug.

Finally, on a certain afternoon at about two o'clock, Watson came in
q