“If you get caught, you get punished,” cried Jean, laughing in her father’s face. “To break such a law would be an act of heroism for which I should be glad to be arrested and sent to jail! It would be an act of heroism beside which the defence of the Stars and Stripes would be cowardice!” she cried in a transport of fury.
“Come, Jean,” said her father, rising, “we must go to supper. Won’t you join us, Mrs. O’Dowd?”
“Food would choke me,” said the visitor, bowing herself out.
“Hang the luck!” said the Squire, as the door slammed behind her.
“What are you going to do to help the poor woman, John?” asked Mrs. Ranger, as the family sat at the belated meal.
“Ask Jean.”
“What do you know about the case, daughter?”
“She thinks she knows a lot,” interrupted her father. “She’d ’a’ made a plaguy good lawyer if she’d only been born a boy.”
“Who knew best what I ought to be,—you or God?” asked Jean, her eyes glowing like stars.