"Gentlemen," he answered, "if you can not take the word of a gentleman, go in the Mansion House bar and ask Mr. Jervais himself. I just left him there." Then, from a more antagonistic height, "And I'd like to know who the blackguard is who called what I said, 'a damned lie'!"
"Why has Jervais done this!" Sargent exclaimed, ignoring the last remark. "There must be some good reason. Of course, he can explain it."
"Oh yes,—he explains it," Suggs answered, his anger diverted. "He says he's had a streak of bad luck lately, and he's got to pay up some way. Phelps offered him a thousand dollars to clear him."
"He'll never win that thousand," Pintard commented. "He might as well throw up the case now. Clear Phelps in this town, where we all know what he's been doing for ten years! Why, man, it's ridiculous!"
Mr. Suggs leisurely folded his arms and looked reflectively in the direction of the jail.
"On the contrary," he remarked, "it will be very easy for him to clear Phelps. The evidence is only circumstantial. No one saw him commit the murder. Nobody can swear to it. All they know is that he was captured in a canebrake near Puckett's house, on the night of the murder, and it will take a mighty good lawyer to convince the jury that he is the murderer; that is, unless the trial is overruled by sentiment, and it's not likely to be, with Felix Houston as judge. I'll tell you, gentlemen, I don't want the prosecution. It's not a job worth having."
"Somebody's got to do it, though. Attorney Semmes has been sick for a month and can not leave his home. Who'll they get?"
"The Judge will appoint some one to-morrow morning, I understand." Mr. Suggs replied from his inexhaustible store of information. "And let us all pray," he added, meekly folding his hands across his breast, "that it won't be one of us."
Sargent slipped away from the crowd, unnoticed. The possible meaning of Judge Houston's note rushed over him, bringing with it an army of hopes and fears. Could it be that he himself was to represent the State in this trial? The idea stuck in his thoughts with the potency of truth. Under its influence he walked rapidly in the direction of his friend's home, with the question obliterating his surroundings.
He was passing the Mansion House when he heard his name called loudly, and turning, found Jervais staggering toward him, out of the barroom.