Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/238

 sincerity. Mésalliances were occurring everyday to confound society. Evidently this was to be one of them.

"Do you think it's serious?" She studied his face anxiously.

"I don't know, Nan."

"But," she demanded indignantly, "you don't believe it?"

Bob shook his head.

"No; I don't believe it. Ben is honest. It's either a mistake or a conspiracy."

"It's dreadful—to be arrested—in jail! It sounds so disgraceful—and common. You read about people who commit arson and bigamy and murder, but somehow it doesn't seem real to you—you would never meet such people in a thousand years—and then when you really know somebody that's been arrested and put in jail why, it seems too terribly shocking for words, even when he's innocent."

"It's not a pleasant thing for you to be mixed up in, Nan," he answered gravely.

"You'll do all you can for him, won't you, Bob?" she pleaded.

"Yes," he answered quietly, "I'll do all I can for him—and for you. I don't know how