No adequate requital of their obligations had been possible, of course. They had not been able to further Gorham's plans in any respect. He was a rich man, and reputed even richer than he was. He had no speculative tendency outside of the theatrical business. As for social prestige, he was not of their sort, and their circle not his. In truth, he had not cared often to meet these tearful, exacting women, who regarded him as a hero, and whose ideals so far exceeded his imagination and his ambition. "Gorham asked _me_ to go on the bail-bond," continued the broker, "although he said I should lose nothing if the boy absconds; but I wouldn't agree to that, and I asked Frank, for him,--but Frank wouldn't." "Oh, _Frank_!" The poignant duet rose like a wail, and the athlete cowered behind his nephew's pink ribbon shoulder-knots and white frock as the child bounced and gurgled and squealed beguilingly at him. "Do you think you are right to set them on me?" said the strong man weakly. "Quit carousing with the baby and talk sense!" his brother adjured him. "Oh, _Frank_! remember!" cried his mother in tears. "Oh, _Frank_, money was nothing then! No friends, no help, every creature but Mr. Gorham fleeing from the plague-stricken!" cried Frank's sister-in-law. "And how thoughtful for us--for _me_!--to remember and bring me my son's last words, his last messages!" The tears choked his mother's utterance. "And then," said the younger woman, weeping in sympathy,--"to recall every incident,--the details of the treatment,--to make us feel that everything was done for poor Phil that we could have had done, had we been with him too! I don't see _how_ we could bear to think of Phil, except that Mr. Gorham was with him to the last." "And listened to his latest sigh and closed his eyes in death!" said his mother. "And then he almost died too; he risked his life--to make sure that Phil had every chance for his own! Oh,--_Frank_!" "Yes, yes,--he followed him to the gates of death and was only turned back by a miracle, it seemed--oh, _Frank_!" "But it can't be a question of money with Frank," said his sister-in-law, wiping her eyes. "_Frank_ would not stand on a question of mere money!" "He thinks that we may be misconstrued," explained her husband. "And at first I was doubtful. But now it seems very plain. Gorham naturally does not want to keep this child cooped up in jail so long. He'll prosecute him fast enough if the boy seems to have really had anything to do with the crime or any guilty knowledge of it. But Gorham doesn't believe this. He thinks the facts will come out the sooner if the boy is footloose and free. Of course he will be kept under surveillance all the time, and could hardly run away if he wished. We are in no sort of danger of losing the money, as far as that goes, and really _I_ could not refuse Gorham,--he was so intent upon it!" "Oh,--_Frank_!" cried his mother. "Oh,--_Frank_!" cried his brother's wife.