“Governor Osborne is engaged upon important public business. He will be absent from town for a day—perhaps a week. He will not return to Columbia until the business is thoroughly disposed of.”
“May I ask if it’s the Appleweight case? The Raleigh papers have wired for information, and we’d like to know here.”
“I cannot answer that question. It’s enough that the governor is absent on state business, and that the business is important. You may print that in the Intelligencer, and repeat it to Raleigh.—There is no harm in that, is there, Miss Osborne?”
“No; certainly not,” Barbara replied.
“But the papers all over the state are talking about the Appleweight gang. They intimate that those people enjoy immunity from prosecution, and that the governor—you will pardon me, Miss Osborne—will take no steps to arrest them, for personal reasons.”
“Your question is quite proper,” replied Griswold. “The governor’s acts are subject to scrutiny at all times, and it is just as well to have this matter understood now. I am employed by the governor as special counsel in some state matters. My name is Griswold. Take out your book and come to the desk here, and I will give you a statement which you may publish as by the authority of the governor.”
The three found seats at a table, and Griswold dictated while the reporter wrote, Barbara meanwhile sitting with her cheek resting against her raised hand. She was experiencing the relief we all know, of finding a strong arm to lean upon in an emergency, and she realized that Griswold was not only wise, but shrewd and resourceful.
“Please print this exactly as I give it: It having been intimated in certain quarters that the Appleweight gang of outlaws, which has been terrorizing the North Carolina frontier for several years, enjoys immunity from prosecution in South Carolina owing to the fact that Governor Osborne was at some time attorney for Appleweight, Governor Osborne begs to say that steps have already been taken for the arrest of this man and his followers, dead or alive. The governor presents his compliments to those amiable critics who have so eagerly seized upon this pretext for slurring his private character and aspersing his official acts. The governor has no apologies to proffer the people of South Carolina, who have so generously reposed in him their trust and confidence. He is intent upon safeguarding the peace, dignity, and honour of the state through an honest enforcement of law, and he has no other aim or ambition.”
Griswold took the reporter’s notebook and read over this pronunciamiento; then he handed it to Barbara, who studied it carefully.
“I think that sounds just right, only why not substitute for ‘honest’ the word ‘vigorous’?”