h had not heard this last remark. She was leaning eagerly
forward listening to the conversation among the others. Judge Wilson was
explaining to those who were interested what Big Bill Kyler had done to
justify a year and a half in jail.

"You see," the Judge said, "all the land at Italee and Gleasonton belong
to Mrs. Gleason. She won't sell, and leases and rents only under certain
conditions. All renters are her husband's workmen. I suppose there's seven
or eight hundred in the tannery and brickyard. She won't permit a licensed
hotel on her land. Big Bill drives across the country, loads his wagon
with contraband goods and retails them from his house. This is all on the
quiet. I reckon he's carried this on for six months. But some time in
August, Mrs. Gleason had his wagon stopped with the result," with a wave
of his hand, "Bill is living at the expense of the State."

"A pretty smart woman, Mrs. Gleason." This remark came from the little old
man in the corner.

"Very, but she would never have discovered this if someone had not given
her a pointer; for Big Bill outwardly was an advocate of temperance."

"I am out of patience with the way in which justice errs," cried Mrs.
Wilson, in the same spirited, sprightly way her daughter might have done.
"We all know that Big Bill is not accountable. He has always been the tool
of anyone who would make use of him. I doubt if he made any money by this
work. There was a shrewder man back of him who planned this and took the
money. And that man is the one who should be punished."

"Undoubtedly," responded the Judge. "But that man is shrewd enough to keep
himself out of the toils. He has a wholesale license to sell at Westport.
He does not obligate himself to question his buyers. He may ask Big Bill a
trifle more than anyone else, but that is no infringement of the law. I
think there was no doubt in anyone's mind who was the instigator of this
'speak-easy' business at Italee; but he was shrewd enough to keep within
the letter of the law. We could not touch him, and he knew it."

"The whole business is nefarious! It is the curse of our country."

Judge Wilson smiled back at his wife. She was always so decided in her
opinions, so fearless in expressing them.

"To be sure, to be sure," he responded calmly. "Most of us acknowledge
that, but we have power only to interpret and judge. The people make the
laws."

"I think this talk is a trifle too heavy for a boarding-school recept