ator, his
clansmen dropped into their seats. Garvin took the cue. He pounded on
his desk with the gavel. "Order in the court-room," he shouted, and his
henchmen also subsided into their benches.

A deep breath of relief swept over the place. The crisis was averted.
Garvin beckoned Marcus and the opposing counsel to his side.
"Gentlemen," he said coolly, "the boys seem a little excited. Unless
there is an objection I'm goin' to adjourn co'te for a half-hour, and
then keep this room clear of spectators." But the moment of peril had
passed and when I reached the square with the attorney, who hastily
spirited me out by the back door, I saw the two elements mingling with a
semblance of entire peace.

Marcus took me directly to his office where we were busied with a
supplemental and more exact affidavit, and I did not see the
Weighbornes. I knew that any meeting must be a most unhappy occasion,
and until this matter was disposed of I was willing to postpone that
final clash. We were shortly interrupted by the arrival of the county
attorney, who announced that at the reconvening of court he would move
to dismiss the cases. He said he realized that there could be no
conviction and would not risk precipitating a conflict. Marcus could
hardly refuse to allow his clients to go free, and so for the time he
had to accept that surrender and reserve his ammunition for later
effectiveness.

To the Marcus house we rode in cortege. I had not intended running at
all, but when I came out of the law office I found that Weighborne had
been much fatigued and had already started back with another guard, and
I could hardly run away without facing the two of them. Marcus too,
insisted that I must return, even if only for a day. Much of our
business remained unfinished, and I inferred from his attitude that he
knew nothing of the inevitable reckoning which I must face at the hands
of my business partner. We started late and our small army arrived after
nine o'clock. It was again a night of sparkle and starlight and frost.
We learned that supper had been saved for us and the attorney and I ate
it in silence. The Weighbornes had not waited for us. I quite
understood that they might not care to break bread with me, and yet I
was puzzled, because in that paralyzed moment in the court-room when I
had, for the only time during the day, looked full in the lady's eyes, I
had seen no anger in them. I had almost fancied that her lips
half-shaped a smil