"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! Say, Judge, we're not opponents--we're partners in this case." "Hod----" began the other; but Hod Brooks was the master mind. "I believe we can show, some time, somehow," said he, "that the boy didn't do it. I know the boy's _mother_. Of course, his father wasn't so much!" He broke out into his great laugh, but in the corners of his eyes there was visible a dampness. Judge Henderson hesitated for just a moment. "Believe at least this much, Hod," said he. "I didn't know as much at first as I do now. She--she told me all--I saw it all--last night. I want to tell the truth--near as I know. When I saw the boy in Blackman's court--it didn't seem possible, and yet it did. But who gave you the notion? What made _you_ suspect it? You didn't suspect it then, in the justice court, did you?" "Only vaguely," said Hod Brooks; "not so very much. I'll tell you who did--a woman." "Aurora?" "No--Miss Julia. Miss Julia sat there looking from the face of Don Lane to your own face. There was something in her face--I can't tell what. Why, hell! I don't suppose a man ever does know what's going on in a woman's heart, least of all a crude man like me, that never had any fine feelings in all his life. But there was something there in Miss Julia's face--I can't tell what. In some way, in her mind, she was connecting those two faces that she saw before her. If I hadn't seen her face, I wouldn't ever have suspected you of being the father of that boy!