Priest, while I thank you with all my heart for your
thoughtfulness and your kindness, and while I'd be glad, too, if Ellie
saw fit or could be made to see that it would be a fine thing to give me
this money in the way you have suggested, I say to you again that I
cannot be the one to go to her. I will not even write to her on the
subject. That, with me, is final."

"But, ma'am," he said, "ef somebody else went--some friend of yours and
of hers--how about it then?"

She shook her head.

"Her friends--now--are not my friends. My friends are not hers any more;
most of them never were her friends. Besides, the idea did not originate
with me. Either the proposition must come from her direct or it must be
presented to her by some third party. And I can think of no third party
of my choosing that she would care to hear. No, Judge Priest, I have
nobody to send."

"All right then," he stated, "since I set this here ball in motion I'll
keep it rollin'. Ma'am, I'll take it on myself to speak to Mrs. Dallam
Wybrant in your behalf."

"But, Judge Priest," she protested, "I couldn't ask you to do that for
me--I couldn't!"

"Ma'am, you ain't asked me and you don't need to ask me. I'm askin'
myself--I'm doin' this on my own hook, and ef you'll excuse me I'll
start at it right away. When there's a thing which needs to be done ez
bad ez this thing needs to be done, there oughtn't to be no time lost."
He stood up and looked about him for his hat. "Ma'am, I confidently
expect to be back here inside of half an hour, or an hour at most, with
some good news fur you."

To one who had traveled about more and seen the homes of wealthy
folk--to a professional decorator, say, or an expert in furnishing
values--the drawing-room into which Judge Priest presently was being
ushered might have seemed overdone, overly cluttered up with drapery and
adornment. But to Judge Priest's eye the room was all that a rich man's
best room should be. The thick stucco walls cut out the heat of the
night; an electric fan whirred upon him as he sat in a deep chair of
puffed red damask. A mulatto girl in neat uniform--this uniform itself
an astonishing innovation--had answered his ring at the door and had
ushered him into this wonderful parlor and had taken his name and had
gone up the broad stairs with the word that he desired to see the lady
of the house for a few minutes upon important business. He had asked
first for Mr. and Mrs. Dallam Wybrant; but Mr. Wy