Dr. Jebb looked puzzled. Jim said: "If I can't trust you, who is there left to trust?" And then told the story of his fall. He painted himself not quite so black as he might have done the day before, but black enough. Dr. Jebb looked terribly worried and distressed. "I don't know what to say," he kept repeating. "All my heart is with you, but my judgment condemns you. I don't know what to say." Then Mrs. Jebb spoke. "Now, Josiah, you know perfectly well that your affections always were a safer guide than your judgment. There was no bad intention on the part of the sinner--for we are all sinners--this was just an unfortunate accident, and Jim shows in every possible way his regret. There has been no public scandal, and so I think you had better drop the whole thing and forget it. I know enough about Jim to know that he has made out the worst possible case against himself." "That may be," said Dr. Jebb, "but I fear we must bring the matter up before the deacons, at least." "As long as you don't make it public by bringing it before the church," said Mrs. Jebb, "all right." Thus it was that Dr. Jebb sent out a notice, to such of the deacons as he could not see personally, that a meeting was to be held at his house that night. In the same afternoon another interview took place in Cedar Mountain. School-trustee Higginbotham was sitting in his office when the schoolteacher came up the boardwalk and into the insurance office. "Hello, Jack." "Hello, John"; and the visitor sat down. Higginbotham glanced at him and noticed that his face was drawn and his eyes "like holes burnt in a blanket." His fingers trembled as he rolled a cigarette. "Say, John," Lowe began nervously, "in case any rumour gets around that the Preacher and I were a little reckless at Bylow's, you can contradict it. At least there's nothing in it as far as I am concerned. I think the Preacher must have taken some before I arrived. He showed the effects, but not much." "Hm," said Higginbotham. "You got there late?" "Yes, you see we--that is, both of us--went there to stop that spree--and we did, in a way, but things got a little mixed." "How was that?" "Well, I went there to help him and I did what I could for him, but they had had some already. We spilled the keg on the floor and the fumes were pretty strong and affected him a little. Didn't amount to much. I did what I could. It was strong enough to affect me--unpleasantly, too. I thought I'd just let you know in case there was anything said about it." As soon as he was gone, Hannah appeared. Apparently, she had overheard the conversation. "Well, did you catch on?" "Partly; how did it strike you?" "I think he is trying to save his own skin by dragging in the Preacher." "I think so, too; but all the same, I won't use his story if it can be dispensed with. The less we dig into this thing the better."