“But why?”
“Then you don't know that the mob sent a dog out in search of you 2”
“No, I didn't know that; but if all the dogs of Christendom——”
“There are worse dogs waiting for you than any that go on four legs, you know.”
“That's nothing, sir, nothing at all; and if bail has been accepted, surely it is your duty to liberate me at once. I claim—I demand that you should do so!”
The officer raised his eyes in astonishment. “You surprise me, Father. After your calmness and patience and submission to authority too!”
John Storm remained silent for a moment, and then he said, with a touching solemnity: “You must forgive me, sir. You are very good—everybody is good to me here. Still, I am not afraid, and if you can let me go——”
The officer left him. It was several hours before he returned. By this time the long summer day had closed in, and it was quite dark.
“They think you've gone. You can leave now. Come this way.”
At the door of the office some minutes afterward John Storm paused with the officer's hand in his, and said: