“Oh, I thought you'd never come!” she smiled, as he sprang out and advanced to her. “I would have broken my oath of allegiance to the clan if you had waited a moment longer.” “I might have known you couldn't keep it,” Dwight laughed. “Mam' Linda would have drawn it out of you just as you did out of me.” “But are you going to tell her?” Helen asked, just as Keith, who had stepped aside to fasten his horse, came up. “Yes,” Carson answered. “Keith and I made a lightning trip around and finally persuaded all the others. Invariably they would shake their heads, and then we'd simply tell them you wished it, and that settled it. They all seem flattered by the idea that you are a member.” “But say, Miss Helen,” Keith put in, gravely, “we really must guard against Lewis and Linda's giving it away. It is a most serious business, and, our own interests aside, the boy's life depends on it.” “Well, we must get them away from the cottage,” said Helen. “They are now literally surrounded by curious negroes.” “Can't we have them up here in the parlor?” Carson asked. “Your father is down-town; we saw him as we came up.” “Yes, that's a good idea,” Helen responded, eagerly. “The servants are all at the cottage; we'll make them stay there and have Uncle Lewis and Mam' Linda here.” “Suppose I run down and give the message,” proposed Keith, and he was off with the speed of a ball-player on a home-run. “Do you think there is any real danger to Mam' Linda's health in letting her know it suddenly?” Carson asked, thoughtfully. “We must try to reveal it gradually,” Helen said, after reflecting for a moment. “There's no telling. They say great joy often kills as quickly as great sorrow. Oh, Carson, isn't it glorious to be able to do this? Don't you feel happy in the consciousness that it was your great, sympathetic heart that inspired this miracle, your wonderful brain and energy and courage that actually put it through?” “Not through yet,” he laughed, depreciatingly, as his blood flowed hotly into his cheeks. “It would be just my luck right now to have this thing turn smack dab against us. We are not out of the woods yet, Helen, by long odds. The rage of that mob is only sleeping, and I have enemies, political and otherwise, who would stir it to white heat at a moment's notice if they once got an inkling of the truth.” He snapped his fingers. “I wouldn't give that for Pete's life if they discover our trick. Pole Baker had just come in town when Keith and I left. He said the Hillbend people were earnestly denying all knowledge of any lynching or of the whereabouts of Pete's body, and that some people were already asking queer questions. So, you see, if on top of that growing suspicion, old Lewis and Linda begin to dance a hoe-down of joy instead of weeping and wailing--well, you see, that's the way it stands.”