"Nothing. She just came to see me. She's changed dreadfully, and talked about nothing except--that awful night. You remember? I'm nearly in hysterics." "Now, that won't do. You pass your worries on to me. Lilas can't make trouble for us without making more for herself." But Lorelei seemed oppressed with a premonition of trouble. "I'm frightened, Bob," she confessed. "She acted so--strangely. Suppose--oh, suppose I should have to go to jail now or--to court--" Bob took his wife in his arms and did his best to cure her of these sick fancies; but it was no easy task to quiet her, for a million apprehensions had sprung into life with the reopening of that old horror. At last he reminded her gently: "Remember, dear, your thoughts are like branding-irons just now; they leave their marks. We want our child to be brave and confident and steadfast, not a coward--or something worse. This is how cowards are made. How can a child inherit weakness when its mother is without fear?" Profiting by this experience, Bob undertook to guard against another visit from Lilas. He was really worried, although he pretended to dismiss the matter as inconsequential, and his fears flared into full blaze again a few days later, when Jimmy Knight called upon him and announced cautiously: "Say, you know Lilas is back. Well, she's gone off her nut--she's going to give herself up." "Give herself up? How?" "She's going to tell the truth about the Hammon affair. She thinks she's dying. Where do we go from here if she does that?" Bob could not conceal his alarm, which increased when his brother-in-law begged him to do something quickly to save them all from disaster. "I wouldn't come to you," Jim confessed, candidly, "if I knew what to do; for you don't like me, and I'm not crazy about you. But we've got to stand together on account of Lorelei--not that I'd enjoy a call on the district attorney at any time." Agreeing that there was no time to waste, the two men hastened to Lilas's hotel, only to receive a greeting that was far from auspicious. When they had adroitly brought the conversation around to the point at issue Lilas explained: "Yes, the doctors have ticketed me. They've shown me the gate." She coughed hollowly and laid her hand on her chest. "Oh, it's the white bug! That closes the show for me." She appeared very ill, and it did not occur to Bob to doubt her. Jim began briskly: "Why, that's nothing, Lilas! Arizona is the place for you." "Arizona is a long jump from Broadway." "I'll help you if you need help," Bob hastened to offer. Lilas flashed him a grateful glance from eyes that were doubly large and dark against her pallor. "You're a prince with your money, but--it's too late." "Nonsense!" "Oh, they'd get me sooner or later. I may as well face the music." "Do you mean slow music? Do you mean the bugs will get you?" Jim inquired.