hand, would Miss Pemberton ever speak again to the man who had been the instrument of bringing disgrace upon the family?  Spies, detectives, police officers, may be useful citizens, but they are rarely pleasant company for other people.  We fee the executioner, but we do not touch his bloody hand.  We might feel a certain tragic admiration for Brutus condemning his sons to death, but we would scarcely invite Brutus to dinner after the event.  It would harrow our feelings too much.

Perhaps, thought Ellis, there might be a way out of the dilemma.  It might be possible to save this innocent negro without, for the time being, involving Delamere.  He believed that murder will out, but it need not be through his initiative.  He determined to go to the jail and interview the prisoner, who might give such an account of himself as would establish his innocence beyond a doubt.  If so, Ellis would exert himself to stem the tide of popular fury.  If, as a last resort, he could save Sandy only by denouncing Delamere, he would do his duty, let it cost him what it might.

The gravity of his errand was not lessened by what he saw and heard on the way to the jail.  The anger of the people was at a white heat.  A white woman had been assaulted and murdered by a brutal negro.  Neither advanced age, nor high social standing, had been able to protect her from the ferocity of a black savage.  Her sex, which should have been her shield and buckler, had made her an easy mark for the villainy of a black brute.  To take the time to try him would be a criminal waste of public money.  To hang him would be too slight a punishment for so dastardly a crime.  An example must be made.

Already the preparations were under way for the impending execution.  A T-rail from the railroad yard had been procured, and men were burying it in the square before the jail.  Others were bringing chains, and a load of pine wood was piled in convenient proximity.  Some enterprising individual had begun the erection of seats from which, for a pecuniary consideration, the spectacle might be the more easily and comfortably viewed.

Ellis was stopped once or twice by persons of his acquaintance.  From one he learned that the railroads would run excursions from the neighboring towns in order to bring spectators to the scene; from another that the burning was to take place early in the evening, so that the children might not be kept up beyond their usual bedtime.  In one group that he passed he heard several young men discussing the question of which portions of the negro’s body they would prefer for souvenirs.  Ellis shuddered and hastened forward.  Whatever was to be done must be done quickly, or it would be too late.  He saw that already it would require a strong case in favor of the accused to overcome the popular verdict.

Going up the steps of the jail, he met Mr. Delamere, who was just coming out, after a fruitless interview with Sandy.