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 Stella's beautiful face grew white and still.

"You will make a special effort against him?" she faltered.

"I will," was the stern answer. "There was a way of escape. I offered it to him this morning in the most friendly and generous spirit. His answer was the gravest personal insult."

"May I see him at once?"

"Certainly."

The General hastily wrote an order and Stella hurried to the jail.

She determined to make a desperate appeal to induce him to compromise with the authorities and save his life.

At the sight of the heavy iron bars of his door before which John stood smiling, she broke completely down, seized his extended hand, covered it with kisses and sobbed bitterly.

"Come, come, my beautiful one, this is not like you! I've counted on your brave spirit to win this fight. Not another tear. Courage and laughter in our souls, defiance, scorn, contempt for our enemies! See, they have made me quite comfortable within the past hour. I tried to knock the Attorney General down, and lo, they rewarded me with a cot and a chair!"

"You knocked General Champion down?" Stella gasped in amazement.