"Can I?" laughed Tod. "It's the easiest thing I do. Mother's got some real estate, and she'll sign anything for me. You know it's a joke on Jimmy to make his wife put up bail for the man he's had arrested. As for Cooley, it will be a scream when he finds it out."
"Oh, but the disgrace of it!" cried Paula, in dismay. "The humiliation—he's so sensitive. Poor Mr. Ricaby!"
"That's all right, Miss Marsh," said Tod consolingly. "It's a put-up job of the Big Chief—that's one of his methods. We'll get Ricaby out before to-night. I thought you'd like to come with me to jail—he's down in the Tombs."
"The Tombs!" she exclaimed.
"Of course," he went on, "that's no place for a lady, but when I'm with you, you might be in the St. Regis for the courteous treatment you'll get. Say, can you see Cooley's face when he finds out who went on Ricaby's bond! Do you know what worried them so? They heard that Ricaby is trying to raise money to retain ex-Senator Wratchett. That fellow Cooley's a wonder! He hears about things before they happen."
"Then it's for me—for my sake," faltered Paula, "that Mr. Ricaby is in prison. I believe he has beggared himself for me—to fight this case. He never tells me how much I owe him. It's all my fault. Let's go to him at once. Oh, Mr. Chase, I'm so grateful to you!"
Going into her room, she reappeared immediately with her hat and coat and began hurriedly to put them on.
"Then call me Tod, won't you?" grinned her companion. "All my men friends call me Tod. The only name I won't stand for is Todhunter. Your Uncle Jimmy insulted me with that epithet once, and I went up so high in the air that he never did it again. I'm the one man your uncle respects. I make so much noise he has to bribe me to keep quiet. That's Bascom Cooley's argument—the more noise you make the more attention you get, and the more you fool people. Cooley says——"
"Don't be like Mr. Cooley," she protested.
"He's mighty successful, all the same. Do you know, Miss Marsh, he and two or three others run this city?"