THE arrest of John Graham precipitated a crisis between Ackerman and Susie Wilson which was as unexpected as it was embarrassing to the handsome young detective.

From the moment she had seen his letter on Stella’s bed she had watched the young Northerner with the keenest suspicions.

The following day he pressed his love with straightforward earnestness.

She answered with an evasive smile.

“I appreciate the honour you pay me, Mr. Ackerman, but I’m not in love with you. I hope we shall always be friends. If your love endures it may win mine in the end—if you persist.”

“I have your permission to persist?”

“Certainly,” she answered frankly. “I love to be loved.”

“All right,” he said with a boyish laugh. “I’m going to build my house in the fall.”

On the day following John Graham’s arrest she saw Ackerman emerge from the hotel in earnest consultation with the Attorney General. To her the prosecuting officer of the United States at that moment meant all that was vile and hateful in the tyranny under which the South had groaned since the dawn of her memory.

The moment she saw Ackerman with this man, his very name became to her accursed. Her keen intuition at once linked the letter to Stella with the murder of the Judge and the prosecution of the Klan. She was sure that Ackerman had been playing the hypocrite and was at heart an enemy of the South. She determined not only to cut his acquaintance but put him out of her mother’s house.

When the young detective received a written notice from Susie to vacate his room immediately, he took it to be a practical joke and asked to see her. She sent word by the servant that unless he moved during the day his trunk would be thrown on the sidewalk.

Ackerman left in answer to a summons from the Attorney General’s office, still puzzling his brain over the meaning of the joke. He was sure that she could not possibly know of his oath against John Graham which was a secret of the Department of Justice. He was equally sure that she could not suspect his real business in Independence. He meant to win her love first. He didn’t care what she thought of his profession afterwards.

When he returned to Mrs. Wilson’s for supper he was struck dumb by the sight of his trunk lying on the sidewalk outside the gate.

Without a word he picked it up, carried it back upstairs and threw it on the floor with a bang in front of the room that had been his.

He sat down on it and refused to stir until Susie answered in person his demand for an interview.

To avoid a scene she finally consented to meet him in the parlour.

Susie’s gray eyes were cold and her tall figure rigid.

“In violation of every law that should govern the conduct of a gentleman you have forced yourself into my presence Mr. Ackerman. I trust our interview may be very brief.”

“In violation of every law of Southern hospitali............