“Yes, sir!”
Toby and I waited in suspense. We saw a faint spark light the cold, filmed blue eye, spread to the corner of his grim mouth, while a look of benevolent anticipation rippled over his set countenance. It was coming! I got ready to say with a spontaneous laugh “We surely are.”
And then he bit it off!
“Yo’ know speeding is a very serious offense——”
“I wouldn’t have done it for worlds, your Honor, if I hadn’t seen all the Texas cars going quite fast, so I thought you wouldn’t mind if I did the same. I only arrived yesterday from Massachusetts.”
“Thet’s so. Yo’re from Massachusetts?”
We waited hopefully. But again he bit it off.
“It’s a mighty serious offense. But, seein’ as yo’re a stranger and a lady at that——”
His voice became indulgently reassuring. We felt we had done well to wait over a day, and trust to Southern chivalry.
“Considering everything, I’ll be easy on you. Twenty dollars.”