University of Michigan Law School - Quad Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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The hot, black eyes on the pillow searched his face eagerly. He went on half rythmically, with 3 vOiC6 35 gentle as 3 glflisr- ffffhe 11311 was just as they would fix it for a temporary court- room, just exactly, and all the fellows knew their parts perfectly, Your speech was elegant, if old jim had been a real judge he'd have said just what he did, only more so. -It - Goliath laid a hand on his arm. A f'That was a good speech, a fine argument Sir ,-the voice was hoarse and faltering with long pain,- I know it Was. The logic was faultless, the rhetoric in taste. It was my first argument. I have been preparing it half my life, sir. I could not have done better. I wish it had been before the Supreme Bench. I should have made my mark eternally . He struggled upward, breathing heavily, Fred lifted him. The hard red spots in his cheeks grew brighter, his hands gripped the bed-clothes., When the pain was easier he tried to go on. Don't , begged the boy, f'you'll' never get well if you exert yourself, so, please be quiet, please . A faint smile glimmered through the criss-cross lines of excru- ciation on Goliath's face. '4There is no chance for me, sir, anyway. The doctor said this noon it is pneumonia, double-pneumonia, and both lungs simultaneouslyaffected., It will be a very few hours-but I am facing it, sir, facing it. if shall not fiinch . He closed his eyes, though, a little while. When he opened them Fred had bent his head down between Goliath's shoulder and his own as he held him, and was crying bitterly. Goliath looked at the curly brown hair, then across 'the low foot-board out of the bare little window to the sunny world, where May had bloonied in sudden ecstasy. ' .Q There was a little sadness in the eyes at first, then a slow exaltation dawned in them. ' My boy , he said at last, and something of the oratorical had left him, for the moment, he was simpler than before, ffniy boy, you do not understand or you would not feel so. '40f course I did not realize at the time how cold the hall was when I was practicing. Itwas fatal, but even had I known it before, I think I would have done the same, there was so much at stake, and I could not practice here. There is some one to take care of

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ff She said in her letter that she will be here the second day after court opens, and that she desires very much to hear some case of mine, and will stay until one comes off. ff I might tell her that none comes off this session But, sir, unfortunately in writing of my affairs I have told her of a certain case docketed for this month. I have described it, have outlined my course of procedure in it, in short I have given a circum- stantial account of it,-a complicated case in chanceryg and it is that case she expressly desires to hear. I H I might say it was postponed, but then, sir, she-she would be disappointed, would go home disappointed. I can hardly face that, sir. Circumstances may have sadly Warped my moral judg- ment, but I think I would prefer deceiving to disappointing her. I-can you suggest any means by which this deception might be practicable? A course suggests itself but-we sometimes hold mock-trials at college and - , ' He could go no further, nor did he gather strength todo so, and there was a long silence. The rain splashed from the overtllled eaves to the walk out- side. , ' L ff I think I understand , Fred said, and there was a serious accent in his voice not iwonted there, 'F' and it may be I can help you just as you want. There are alot of the older fellows,..'who like you, and who would think it sport, -you know how I mean,- tot-77 I HThank you, sir, thank you -Goliath had risen with extended hand,-ff you do understand me-perfCC'flY, but I do not feel quite equal to hearing the plan discussed just yet It is a very hard thing to face. It would be hideous, sir, hideous and degrading for any other sake. But my mother is old, very old . l1- CD2 Second 0lle No, she never suspected a thing. I am sure of it. Don't Worry, don't worry at all. lust lic Still - I Fred spoke slowly, soothingly as one would to a child. H6 was kneeling by the bed with one arm thrown lightly acrOSS U16 spare little frame that hardly made the bed-clothes curve. 13

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her. now that I cannot. ill thank God for that,-and as for me, Fred, she is proud of me now, wonderfully so, and happy in me. She never was but once before since I was grown, she never could be again. All that could ever come would be discoveryand the heart-break of it for us both. When I have to confess it to her at the Last Day, God will make her understand me and forgive as she couldn't now . The words came in throbs between the p-.roxysms of pain. Fred, only half attentive, was trying with all the faith youth has in the power of will, to force his own pulsing vigor into the failing frame he held. ffLay me back, Fred, and let me look at you . I-Ie saw the boy's eyes very deep and soft behind their tears. No, my boy, I am not afraid of death nor of dying. There is no tragedy about it, and I will not have any. It is all very simple. I have written a letter telling her that I am sick, so she will be prepared a little, and making aconfession regarding my property. She thinks I had some here. She 'would think so in spite of me. It may have been her explanation of the paucity of my remittances. I told her I had mislaid--lost-the sole copy of an unrecorded mortgage, almost theonly resource of a certain poor man. The mortgagor was dishonest-and I stood good for it, of course. f'It is what I would have done in such a case, sir, so I am hardly claiming undue credit. And she will be prouder, sir, in poverty for this, than she would have been with thousands earned by me. Send the letter, to-night, after I am dead -and for the rest-I leave it to your good judgment. My books should bring enough to pay the part of your advance of fifty dollars which my work has not discharged, and yet leave sufficient to send me to my mother. I don't ask you to write to her, to tell a lie in any way, only,-and it will be easy,-do not let her know the truth. I die with the lie to her on my lips,--but God understands. The boy's voice was solemn when he answered: I guess I-Ie'd understand about me, too, and I'll see she never knows . Goliath was still, then, and the boy beside him, looking in his face. The room was quiet, save for thelabored breathing of the sick man and the iiutter of the swallows in the eaves close over the Window. . -