.

"So it was just like a mob, and then poor Mrs. Burr got up and tried to
speak, and they got quiet and listened, and she said "Every word the boy
says is true and more--more----" just like that, and then she got faint
and had to stop, and then the Judge took hold. That's what he says he
did, took hold, and he says it was time, because they might have tarred
and feathered the Colonel if he hadn't. I don't suppose they would, but
I wish I could have seen the Judge take hold. I love him."

"Don't you love anybody else?"

Judith ignored this frivolous interruption, as it deserved.

"And so your work was done, though you didn't know it and ran away. And
the Judge says you are a born orator, Neil. That you've got the real
gift, the thing that makes an audience yours. I don't know just what he
means, but I know you've got it, too. You're going to be a great man,
Neil."

"I didn't do anything."

"You're the only man in town who thinks that, then, or has since that
night. He--Everard--was done for the minute you stepped on the stage,
the Judge says. Only they managed it decently, the Judge and the few
that kept their heads. They announced that Colonel Everard was
indisposed and couldn't speak, and the Judge took him home. He really
was ill next day. There's something wrong with his horrid heart. And
that gave him a good excuse not to run for mayor, he gave that up
himself. And in a few days the Judge and Luther Ward went to him and
told him what else he had to do, and he did it. He had to resign from
everything, everything he was in charge of or was trustee of, or had
anything to do with, and get out of town. If he'd do that, they wouldn't
make any scandal or bother him afterward, but let him start new. And
they gave him six months to do all that decently and save his face. Why
did he have to do it decently? Why couldn't they tar and feather him? I
wish they had. I wish----"

"Wish something else, Judith. Something about us."

"What do you mean by us?"

"You and me."

"Isn't it splendid the Judge is going to be president of the bank?" said
Judith hastily.

"Splendid," said a future president of the Green River Bank, who was
occupying the step beside her.

"And isn't it nice that poor Mrs. Burr is going to marry Mr. Sebastian,
even if she does have to move away from Green River? I like people to be
happy, don't you?"

"No. No, I don't. Not other people. I don't care whether they are happy
or not, and I don't w