"Oh, you mean--But I don't understand!" Mary exclaimed, not knowing whether his words boded well or ill for her. "Why, it is like this, Miss Mary. There are tricks in my trade, as in all others, and as matters stand in the case of your brothers--well, if Tobe Keith should happen to pull through, the charges against them would be so insignificant that the courts would be likely to dismiss them entirely. That, no doubt, is a slipshod method, but it is peculiar to us here in the South. You see, your father stands high--nobody higher, in fact; he fought for the Confederacy, has always been a perfect gentleman, and has no end of influential kinsfolk. Why, the district attorney himself is a sort of distant cousin, isn't he? Seems to me that I have heard him telling your father one day that if he ever printed that family history he'd subscribe for several copies, because his name was to be in it, somehow--on his mother's side, I think. Then the Governor is akin, too, isn't he? I thought so" (seeing Mary nod) "and the Kingsleys and Warrens. Oh, take it from me, Miss Mary, if Tobe Keith does get on his feet your brothers will not even be arrested. So I'll not take any fee from you--yet awhile, anyway; and I'm going to say, too, that I'd keep the boys out West. It is a good thing they went to Texas. I suppose they are out there, dodging about. I heard Sheriff Frazier say so the other day (his brother Al had picked up the news somehow or other), but he hadn't decided to institute a search till there was a change in Tobe's condition." "Have you heard from him to-day?" Mary asked, and she all but held her breath as she steadily eyed the lawyer. "No change at all, I understand," Lawton answered. "The doctors still say he must be taken to Atlanta to get the ball out." "Yes, that must be done," Mary sighed, and her face became graver. "I am trying to raise the money--four hundred dollars. Mr. Lawton, can you tell me how to do it? I have no security." "I'm sorry, Miss Mary"--Lawton's color heightened and he screwed his eyes up in embarrassment--"that I can't help you out on that line. Everybody I know is in debt or short of funds. The bank is awfully strict, and high on interest, too. Your father and Albert Frazier drew up some sort of a paper at this table the other day. I think Frazier went his security, put his name on a note at the bank. I heard them talking about how difficult it was to get money. I think Albert has about run through the little pile his old daddy left him. He is a high-flyer for these times--free and easy with his money as long as it lasts." "So you can't tell me any one to go to?" Mary rose and began to adjust the veil on her hat.