When he went to the Post Office for the noon mail, he encountered Hetty on the street. Because he was thoughtful and abstracted, he spoke to her curtly. Hetty did not speak to him at all. She turned away her head. But Wint, already passing by, did not mark this.
He met B. B. Beecham in the Post Office, and stopped in with B. B. at the Journal office afterward. B. B. talked pleasantly of a number of things, till Wint could be still no longer. He asked abruptly:
“B. B., have you heard anything?”
The editor looked surprised. “How do you mean?” he asked.
“What’s Kite up to?”
B. B. said: “I don’t know. Is he up to something?”
“He came to me before court this morning and demanded that I withdraw from this fight and let Lutcher go.”
“Demanded it?”
“Yes.”
“On what ground?”