"How many children has she got now?" "Four, she informs me. The youngest is two and a half." Cassius seemed to be doing a bit of mental arithmetic. He pondered well before speaking. Then he said: "Did she say whose children?" "I assumed them to be yours, Cassius." Smilk grinned. "Well, I guess she's adopted a couple since the last time I saw her, which was five years ago last Spring. I been married twice since then. So she wants you to go easy on me, eh?" "She seems to think that if I intercede for you the judge will let you off with a suspended sentence, and then you can go to work and support your family." "It's time she woke up," snarled Smilk. "I been at large quite a bit in the last ten years and if she can prove that I ever supported her,--why, darn her hide, what right has she got to accuse me of supportin' her when she knows I've never been guilty of doin' it? She knows as well as anything that she supported me on three different occasions when I was out for a month or two at a stretch. I will say this for her, she supported me better than the other two did,--a lot better. And it's her own fault her nose is flat. If she'd stood still that time--But I'm not goin' to discuss family affairs with you, Mr. Yol--" "Sh! Easy!" "It's all right. He ain't listenin'." "What is your brother-in-law's name?" in a whisper. "I never had but one name for him, and it's something I wouldn't call you for anything in the world," said Smilk. "Let's make it Bill. You ain't goin' to do what she asks, are you? You ain't goin' to do a dirty trick like that are you,--Bill?" "I thought I would come down and talk the matter over with you, Cash. I'm in quite a dilemma. She says if I don't help you out of this scrape she and all your children will haunt me to my dying day. It sounds rather terrible, doesn't it?" "I can't think of anything worse," acknowledged Cassius, solemnly. "She asked me what I thought your sentence would be, and I told her I doubted very much whether you'd get more than a year or so, in view of all the extenuating circumstances,--that is to say, your self-restraint and all that when you had not only the jewels but the revolver as well. That seemed to cheer her up a bit." "You made a ten strike that time, Bill," said Smilk, his face brightening. "I didn't give you credit for bein' so clever. If she thinks I'll be out in a year or two, maybe she'll be satisfied to keep her nose out of my affairs. If you had told her I was dead sure to go up for twenty years or so, she'd come and camp over there in the Criminal Courts Building and just raise particular hell with everything." Mr. Yollop turned his face away. "I'm sorry to bring bad news to you, Cash, but she's made up her mind to attend your trial next Monday. She's going to bring the children and--" He was interrupted by the string of horrific oaths that issued, pianissimo, through the twisted lips of the prisoner. After a time, Cassius interrupted himself to murmur weakly: