"I can't believe it," she said quietly. "I don't believe it."
"At all events," said the lawyer, "we dare not risk taking him into our confidence any more. Listen, I've raised the money, and I'm going to see Wratchett to-night."
"Why did they arrest you?"
"Because I overlooked the formality of having a certificate of shares endorsed over to me. As soon as I could get word to my friend, who loaned me the securities, he came down and the magistrate released me at once, but the stigma of arrest, of accusation, of prison, is there. That's what Cooley wants—to discredit me in court. Cooley knows that if he throws enough mud some of it is bound to stick."
The young girl made a gesture of discouragement. Sinking down in a chair at the table, she said wearily:
"Oh, I'm so tired of it all. Let's give it up, Mr. Ricaby. Let's go to my uncle and make the best bargain we can. I was hasty before. I'll be more patient this time."
The lawyer shook his head.
"Now that I have the sinews of war?" he cried. "No! We'll win out; you'll see. They must be pretty desperate when they resort to such tactics as false arrest. No, by God! I'm going to stick to them now."
Paula walked to the window, and, drawing aside the curtain, gazed thoughtfully into the street below.
"Isn't there some way out of it?" she demanded. "If, for instance, I married—my husband——"