Ned turned, pressed her to his heart, and held her in silence. He took Betty's hand and bent to kiss it.
"You shall not die," she whispered tensely. "I'm going to save you."
She felt the answering pressure and knew that he understood.
Betty held the mother at the door a moment and spoke in low tones:
"I can get permission from the President to delay the execution until his sister may arrive and say good-bye to him in prison the night before the execution. Wait and I'll get it now."
The mother stood and gazed in a stupor of dull despair while Betty pressed to his desk and begged the last favor. It was granted without hesitation.
"'You're a brave man, Ned Vaughan.'"
The President wrote the order delaying the death for three days and handed her his card on which was written: