ngly.

"I am a member of the bar in good standing," he reminded me stiffly.
"If you knew the first letter of the legal alphabet you'd know that I
couldn't advise a client to run away."

"Damn the legal alphabet!" I broke out hotly. "You're a man, Cy
Whitredge; and I'm another man and in trouble. Can't you drop the
professional cant for half a minute and talk straight?"

At this he shook his head again.

"It would prejudice your case mighty badly--that is, if you should try
it and not succeed. On the other hand--but no; I won't say another
word. Your best friend wouldn't advise you to make such a break.
Besides, you have no money, and you couldn't get very far without it.
I shouldn't even think of it, if I were you. Dwelling on a thing like
that sometimes gives it a chance to get hold of you. But this is all
foolishness, of course. You are going to Jefferson, and you'll take
your medicine like a man if you have to. That's all, I believe, for
the present. Keep a stiff upper lip, and if anybody comes to see you,
don't talk too much. I'll be over at the county seat in a day or two,
and we'll thresh it out some more."

After Runnels had brought me my supper, and I had nothing to do but to
wait for the constable and train-time, I did the very thing that
Whitredge had advised me not to do; I couldn't get it out of my mind
that freedom at any price was now the most desirable thing on earth--in
the universe, for that matter. It was facilely easy to picture a
future in some far distant corner of the country where I might begin
all over again and make good. Other men had done it. Every once in a
while I had read in the newspapers the story of some fellow who had
eluded his fate, deserved or otherwise, years before and had lived and
builded anew and in a fashion to win the applause of all men.

Because I had lived in a small town the better part of my life, I had
the mistaken notion that the world is very wide and that there must be
no end of safe hiding-places for the man who needs to seek one. From
that to imagining the possible details was only a series of steps, each
one carrying me a little nearer to the brink of decision. As I have
said, I had money of my own in the bank vault; much more than enough to
bribe easy-going Sam Jorkins, the constable who, as Whitredge had said,
was to take me to Jefferson. I weighed and measured all the chances
and hazards, and there were only two for which I could not provid