Page:O'Higgins--The Adventures of Detective Barney.djvu/147

 voice, “I ’m not a child. I can take care of myself better than that. Besides, I have n’t done anything wrong and they know it. That indictment was all a bluff. They have no more right to arrest me—”

“Then why not go back and face it? You—”

“Because your governor—”

“I tell you, father wants you to. He does n’t want you to sacrifice yourself for him. And me? What ’s to become of me, if I ’m never to be able to see you—if you ’re always to be hiding and—and hunted! I know what father has done. It was illegal—but he didn’t think it was criminal. And I don’t. If they send him to jail—”

“We ’ll all be disgraced. For life.”

“We ’re disgraced, now. We ’re only making it worse by having it thought that you—when you ’re innocent— Please do it, dearest. Please. For my sake.” There were tears in her voice.

Barney hurried back to the steps and threw