“Mind your own business, you old rogue!” he said shortly, resuming his paper. He heard Plato’s discreet retirement and then a frou-frou of skirts. Virginia, in the freshest of white gowns, came out. She was very pale, and there was a little line of worry between her brows. “Anything new, grandpa?” she asked eagerly, looking at his newspaper. “Can they get Leigh out on bail?” The colonel shook his head sadly. “Think of a boy like that held for murder! Bless my soul, it seems as if it was only last year when I saw him in rompers and eating a lollypop. I remember perfectly--the stick was in his mouth and the lollypop all over his face. Good Lord! And he’s shot a man!” “He’s such a nice boy,” said Virginia. “He has such a sweet, dreamy face, and his eyes are beautiful. Haven’t you noticed how he’s grown up?” “Yep!” the colonel snapped, frowning at space. “I did notice he was getting to be quite a young lady.” Virginia laughed musically. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Then her face sobered. “I’ve just telephoned to Mrs. Carter--I mean Mrs. Johnson Carter,” she explained, blushing suddenly; “and there doesn’t seem to be anything that we can do.” The colonel nodded thoughtfully. “I saw Dr. Barbour last night. He says there’s nothing we can do.” Virginia looked thoughtfully across the green lawn toward the street. It was screened from view here by the colonel’s horse-chestnut, but she glimpsed a strip of the street below the side gate. The sunlight, shining through the honeysuckle on the veranda, flashed on her white gown with glorification, as if it shouted halleluiah, and it shone, too, in her clear eyes. The colonel, who was watching her, thought her the loveliest thing on earth. “I’m afraid there’s a terrible time down there,” she remarked regretfully. “I mean at the Carters.” The colonel assented. He was thinking. He dreaded to tell her. “Jinny, Plato says that----” He got no farther; she had uttered a soft exclamation and gone down the steps. “There’s Dan, grandpa!” she said in evident surprise. The colonel watched her go on to meet Daniel Carter and he saw the change in the young man’s face as they met on the lawn. Daniel was very pale, and he limped badly toward her. “By gum!” said the colonel below his breath. “I wonder if she knows! Women don’t like weakness, I’m afraid. Nothing that’s been injured appeals--not really. Girls like to imagine demigods. And that poor boy’s breaking his heart for her, by gum!” Meanwhile, Virginia turned with Daniel, and they came toward the veranda. The colonel rose and descended the steps. “Dan,” he said in a hoarse voice, holding out his hand, “if there’s anything I can do----” Daniel shook his head, the muscles of his white face twitching a little from weariness and pain. “Nothing at all, Colonel, except--to feel for us!” “Come and sit with us on the piazza,” suggested Virginia. “Can’t you, Dan?” He shook his head.