"The Skinner case?" asked Bill, rubbing gently the smooth white wart.
"Yes," assented the minister. "What do you think of it all, Bill?"
"The girl's a brick," commented Hopkins—and sank into silence.
"The girl's not being tried for murder," rebuked the minister sharply.
"But she played her part with feelin' and power," was the drawling reply.
The clergyman saw a flitting expression of triumph in the druggist's face.
"She'd make a capital actress," ruminated Graves.
He glanced at the rich man to see if he coincided with him, but that gentleman was looking into the street.
"We all act in this world," excused Bill; "even you ministers use methods that you have found in elocution to bring your beliefs to bear upon your congregations."
Graves did not relish being classed with the squatter's child, but he made no comment upon it. He changed his tactics.