this man Brooks?
Are you in any conspiracy of his? What's under this? What's he to you?
Was he ever--has he ever----"

"Stop!" said Aurora Lane, her voice sharp, her face cameo-cold. "Not
another word!" And even the sullen and distracted soul of the man before
her acknowledged the imperative command. "You traded him out of his
place. You're trying to trade now in your own son's life! Is that--can
that really be true of any man?"

"Don't bait me too far!" he rejoined savagely. "Don't you go on now and
drive me into fighting these charges."

"I don't think you would, Uncle," said the calm voice of Anne Oglesby.
"I don't think you would.

"So this," she added softly, "is what my guardian was! _In loco
parentis!_"

The man before her writhed in his own bitter suffering, flinging out his
hands imploringly under the lash of her words.

"Anne! Anne!"--Aurora turned to the girl at her side--"I wish all this
might have been spared you. You're so young! But it all had to come out
some time, I suppose, and I'd rather have you learn it from me than from
Don. You've not seen him--he has not told you?"

"No. We only had a moment--not alone--just a little while ago. They took
him away--I didn't know why, till just now. We've just heard what the
coroner's jury said. But I'll not leave him till he tells me, to, and
only then if he says he doesn't love me."

"He could never say that!" said Aurora Lane. "But I told him he must
leave you."

"Did he say he would?"

"Yes, yes, of course! But when I told him that, I didn't know you; and I
did not think Don ever would know who his father was. He doesn't know
even now."

Judge Henderson turned suddenly, catching at a thought which came to him
from Aurora's words.

"Why should anyone _ever_ know!" he began. "If this whole matter could
be quieted down--if this case could be dismissed----

"Would you promise me," he turned toward Aurora--"if I could manage in
some way to get all this hushed down--if I could save the boy's
life--would you promise me, both of you, never to tell a soul in the
world--never to let anyone get a breath of this? You are the only two
that really know it at all--you said, Aurora, that even the boy doesn't
know it all. Why should he, ever? It's been hid this long, why not
longer?"

"Anne and I, and yourself, are the only human beings in the world who
know it all," said Aurora Lane.

"Can _you_ keep such a secret?" Judge Henderson turned more doubtfully