ounger
than ever. His smile of recognition brought an answering smile from
William. The lad would have passed on, but the judge stopped him.
"Still at liberty, I see," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"Um--see that you remain worthy of it: it's a precious thing, liberty."
Then, "And now, in my unofficial capacity, would you mind telling me
the cause of the desperate encounter of the other day?"

The twinkle in the judge's eyes reassured William. "Well, sir," he
said, "that fellow said the Torontos was selling games. He said they
had it all fixed about who was to win the pennant before the season
started."

The judge, himself a baseball fan, looked up and down the corridor, and
thus addressed William. "Did--er--that is to say--did you----" he
paused.

William, one palm outspread, the other falling on it in rhythm to the
words, his eyes sparkling, asserted--"Honest, judge, I walloped him for
fair. When we got outside he starts all over again, so I herds him
into a lane and we had it out. Gee!" reflectively, "he was tough, but
I did him up all right."

His lordship waved a hand deprecatingly. "Enough, enough, boy," he
said, solemnly. Then, in a lighter tone, "Didn't I see you at the game
a week ago Saturday?"

"You did, you did, sir, I sat right behind you, and--and----"

"Go on."

"I guess I slapped your back when you got kinder excited in the----"

"Seventh innings, with the score three to nothing for Montreal,
Torontos with two men on bases and nobody out"--the judge was talking
rapidly now--"big Bill Hannigan at the bat, and----"

"What did Hannigan do to the ball," William broke in, "but slam it over
the fence for a home run, bringing in the two on bases and tying the
score! Oh, joy!" A clerk of the court who came out of his office at
this moment snickered audibly at the sight of a boy doing a little war
dance in the corridor and a judge smiling approvingly.

Throughout the years that followed, the judge and William maintained a
friendly relationship. His lordship was eventually admitted into the
secret of William's ambition, though it was not until their
acquaintanceship had lasted three years that he took it seriously, and
then he never failed to urge William to "stick to it." From Whimple,
and later from "Chuck" Epstein, he obtained further light, and, on the
comedian's invitation, attended two or three of the amateur
entertainments in which William had a part.

Epstein was chary in consenting