"Howdy, Mrs. Grayson. It's too bad about Tom. How did he come to do it?"
"Lawsy, honey, he didn't do it."
"You think he didn't?"
"I know he didn't. He says so himself. I've been a-waitin' here all the mornin' to see you, an' git you to defend him."
The lawyer sat down on the wooden settee by Mrs. Grayson, and after a little time of silence said:
"You'd better get some older man, like Blackman."
"Tom won't have Blackman; he won't have nobody but Abe Lincoln, he says."
"But—they say the evidence is all against him; and if that's the case, an inexperienced man like me couldn't do any good."
Mrs. Grayson looked at him piteously as she detected his reluctance.
"Abra'm, he's all the boy I've got left. Ef you'll defend him I'll give you my farm an' make out the deed before you begin. An' that's all I've got."