Produced by Al Haines. [Illustration: "Follow your star, John," Bessie declared stoutly. FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 82.] HELD TO ANSWER _A NOVEL_ BY PETER CLARK MACFARLANE AUTHOR OF THOSE WHO HAVE COME BACK, ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY W. B. KING NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1916,_ BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. _All rights reserved_ Published, February, 1916 Reprinted, February, 1916 (four times) *CONTENTS* CHAPTER I The Face That Did not Fit II One Man and Another III When the Dark Went Away IV Advent and Adventure V The Rate Clerk VI On Two Fronts VII The High Bid VIII John Makes Up IX A Demonstration from the Gallery X A Stage Kiss XI Seed to the Wind XII A Thing Incalculable XIII The Scene Played Out XIV The Method of a Dream XV The Catastrophe XVI The King Still Lives XVII When Dreams Come True XVIII The House Divided XIX His Next Adventure XX A Woman with a Want XXI A Cry of Distress XXII Pursuit Begins XXIII Capricious Woman XXIV The Day of All Days XXV His Bright Idea XXVI Unexpectedly Easy XXVII The First Alarm XXVIII The Arrest XXIX The Angel Advises XXX The Scene in the Vault XXXI A Misadventure XXXII The Coward and His Conscience XXXIII The Battle of the Headlines XXXIV A Way That Women Have XXXV On Preliminary Examination XXXVI A Promise of Strength XXXVII The Terms of Surrender XXXVIII Sunday in All People’s XXXIX The Cup Too Full XL The Elder in the Chair *HELD TO ANSWER* *CHAPTER I* *THE FACE THAT DID NOT FIT* Two well-dressed men waited outside the rail on what was facetiously denominated the mourners’ bench. One was a packer of olives, the other the owner of oil wells. A third, an orange shipper, leaned against the rail, pulling at his red moustaches and yearning wistfully across at a wattle-throated person behind the roll-top desk who was talking impatiently on the telephone. Just as the receiver was hung up with an audible click, a buzzer on the wall croaked harshly,—one long and two short croaks.