"All right, Mother," replied Forrester. "I'll phone the house later and if Charlie is going to be in this evening I'll run over and bring you home. Good-bye."
The Nevins family and his own had been close friends for years. This friendship was about to be turned into relationship through the recently announced engagement of Forrester's sister, Josephine, to Charles Nevins, the banker's son.
Forrester hung up the receiver and returned to the lounging room to rejoin Prentice. As he crossed the room he saw that Prentice was reading one of the sensational evening papers, for even from a distance Forrester could read the glaring headlines:
"FRIENDS OF THE POOR"
COMMIT NEW MURDER
Prentice held the paper out for Forrester to see when the young man joined him, with the remark, "Evidently you did not get the first warning of the season, Bob, as I thought. Here's a man who received a notice two weeks ago, and assumed the same attitude that you did this afternoon toward this mysterious band."
"Who was he?"
"George Nevins, the banker!"
"George Nevins!" repeated Forrester, aghast at the news.
"Yes, old George Nevins—the tightest man in Chicago. I'll wager he fought as hard as any one could, but see what happened!" Prentice paused a moment, then added, impressively, "Do you still want to fight?"
"Harder than ever now!" asserted Forrester.