"
"And what did your friend do?" Sadie asked quietly.
"What do you think he did, Miss Sadie?"
"Did the girl know that her father was a thief?"
"She was as innocent as Mary's little lamb."
"I don't know what your friend did," said Sadie, in a clear, emphatic
voice, "but I do know what he ought to have done. His first duty was
to his State."
Jeff stared, and then laughed.
"To his State. That's so. Yes, yes; and that's how my friend acted. He
did arrest the father, and the daughter--why, o' course, she never
spoke to him again."
"It's a sad story," said Sadie, after a pause. "I'm sorry you told it
to me to-day, because----" her voice faltered.
"Yes," said Jeff, "because----"
"Because it has been so pleasant to-day-for me, I mean."
She looked down, blushing. Jeff seized her hand. Sadie tried, not very
hard, to pull it away. Jeff felt the muscles relaxing, the slight form
swayed towards him. Suddenly he released her.
"O, my God!" he exclaimed. "You are right, I feel in all my bones
you're dead right. I ought to do my duty. I'm feeling and behaving
like a madman."
Sadie stared at him in troubled silence.
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