The two great lawyers had not seen Philip Alston up to the moment that he turned to leave the court-house, when General Jackson’s eagle eye fell upon him.

“Why, there’s Philip Alston now!” he exclaimed in an undertone and with a frown.  “The splendid audacity of the magnificent rascal!  Think of his coming here—­right under our noses—­to-day, too, of all days!  And he knows perfectly well that we know him to be the leader, the originator, the head and the brains of all this villany!”

“Yes.  But how are we going to prove it?” asked the attorney-general.  “Believing a thing and proving it are two different things.  If I could only once get my hand on a particle of evidence.—­Do you suppose he could have known what we were talking about?” with sudden uneasiness.  “He is intelligent enough to guess, without hearing a word.  It is scarcely possible that Judge Knox could have been so thoughtless as to speak of our plans to his nephew—­that solemn, pompous young fool who was with Alston.  Surely, even Robert Knox couldn’t have been so indiscreet in a matter of life and death, such as this!”

“Not when he was sober; and he hasn’t been drinking to-day.  As for yesterday—­that is another matter,” said General Jackson.  “Robert Knox always means to do exactly what is right, but what a man means is sometimes very different from what he does, especially when he doesn’t know what he is doing.”

IX

PAUL’S FIRST VISIT TO RUTH

None of this strife had yet touched Cedar House.  Even the hazy sadness which had dimmed Ruth’s bright spirits as she had watched the young preacher ride away, had passed as quickly as mist before the sun.  For it is one of the mercies that happy youth never sees life’s struggle quite clearly, and that it is soon allowed to forget the fleeting glimpses which may cloud its happiness for an instant.

Her thoughts were now solely of the young doctor’s coming.  He had not named the hour; the epidemic made him uncertain of his own time.  But he had said that he would come during the day, so that it was necessary to be ready to receive him at any moment.  And there were many pleasant things to do in preparation for his coming.  More roses were to be gathered, and other flowers also, were blooming gayly among the sober vegetables as if it were mid-summer.  So that the first thing Ruth did was to strip the garden, with David to help her and no one to hinder.

The judge and William had gone away from the house as soon as breakfast was over, saying they would try to return in time to see the visitor.  Miss Penelope was busy in seeing that the coffee-pot was washed with hot water and rinsed with cold, and scoured inside and out till it shone like burnished silver.  The widow Broadnax, too, was as busy as she ever was, sitting in her usual place in the chimney-corner, looking like some large, clumsily graven image in dark stone,