tion had taken place. The making over of
a soul; the cleansing of a life; the changing of an entire creed of
conduct; the surrender of a dominating inborn trait; the tearing down
and building over a vain and wholly selfish man.

"I think she's a good woman," said Hod Brooks simply, after a time.

"So do I!" broke out Judge Henderson at length, with a sudden gasp. "So
do I! She's a good woman. I knew it last night. I've known it all along,
in a way. It all came over me last night--I saw it all plain for the
first time in all these years. Hod! You're right. I don't deserve mercy.
I don't ask it--I'd be ashamed to."

"Religion," said Hod Brooks, quite irrelevantly, "is not altogether
confined to churches, you know. A man's conviction may hit him
anywhere--even in the office of the county treasurer of Jackson County.
But if I was a preacher, Judge Henderson, I'd be mighty glad to hear you
say what you have said."

In his face there showed some sort of strange emotion of his own, a sort
of yearning for the understanding of his own nature by this other man;
and some sort of rude man's sympathy for the broken man who stood before
him.

"You both were young," said he softly and irrelevantly. "I'm not your
judge."

"Hod," said Judge Henderson--"I'm done! I wouldn't go to the Senate
tomorrow if they'd let me. For twenty years she's taken her fate. She's
never told my name. She's never blamed me. She's paid all her debts. In
the next twenty years--can I live as well as that?"

"Yes, she's paid her debts. We've all got to do that some time--there
doesn't seem to be any good way of getting clear of an honest debt,
does there? It costs considerable, sometimes." Hod Brooks' voice held no
wavering, but it was not unkind.

"But now, Judge," he resumed, "we get around to my profession, which is
that of the practice of the law. There's a true bill against the boy.
State's Attorney Slattery don't amount to much--I know about a lot of
things. You're the real intended prosecutor here. Now, I don't want any
passing over of this case to another term of court--I'm not going to let
that boy lie in jail."

"That was what I meant to do--I wasn't going to try for a conviction--I
was going to try for delay."

"Come into court with me and openly ask the quashing of this
indictment," said Hod Brooks. "And we can beat that delay game a
thousand ways of the deck! But now, now--you _did_ have the heart of a
father, then? So, so--well, well!