"You mean that you intend to keep at me until I give way—through sheer exhaustion?"
She nodded.
"That's it exactly," she said.
The lawyer gasped.
"Well, I must say you—you—you're very brave."
Annie shook her head.
"No, I'm not," she said earnestly. "I'm an awful coward, but I'm fighting for him. Howard Jeffries lifted me up when I was way down in the world. He gave me his name. He gave me all he had, to make me a better woman, and I'm grateful. Why, even a dog has gratitude, even a dog will lick the hand that feeds him. Why should I hesitate to express my gratitude? That's all I'm doing—just paying him back a bit of the debt I owe him, and I'm going to move Heaven and earth to bring his father around to my way of thinking. I've got you already——"
The judge bounded to his feet. Could his ears have heard aright?
"Got me already?" he exclaimed. "What do you mean by that?"
Annie returned his angry look with the utmost calm. She was playing her cards well, and she knew it. She had hit the old man in a sensitive place. Quietly, she went on: