She set herself to save Jasper for it was her will that Jasper must not go. Whatever eggs were in the nest were for that purpose and the boiling of the pot over the fire was for that intent and the seeds she dropped in the garden row. Another letter came; the Grand Jury had found an indictment and Jasper would have to go to the court. He would have to give a bond and she thought of that and talked of it to the farmer. Then she asked the farmer to sign the bond. At the time of the May court Jasper went to the town and there he found that he must have a lawyer to defend him. Then the lawyer told the judge that Jasper was not ready with his defence and there was whispering to and fro. The judge saw that they were unready and he set the case for the October court. Hadn’t he, Jasper Kent, known that he would have to have a lawyer? Unless he intended to defend himself, and a laugh went over the court at this. There was more whispering back and forth. ‘But Joe Phillips is on his bond,’ was said, ‘and Joe Phillips is a good man, his farm worth anyhow twenty thousand dollars.’ ‘Oh, yes, he’s a good man.’ By the end of the week Jasper had told Ellen all that had happened in the court, a little now and a little then.

One night there came a call outside and a knock at the step, and, the door opened, a strange man stood beyond the doorframe, a tall man with heavy shoulders. Then Jasper called him by name, saying, ‘Well, Nathan, I vum!’ and brought him over the threshold, and from their talk Ellen knew that he was a friend of Jasper’s from up in the Pike country. Once in a lull in their conversation Jasper nodded his head toward her with dignity and said, ‘That’s my wife,’ and the man replied, ‘I allowed so; I allowed she was your woman.’ ‘Well, Nathan, I vum!’ Jasper would say, trying to hold afresh the idea of his friend’s presence. ‘I came to see if I could be any help,’ Nathan had said soon after entering, ‘I heared you was maybe in for a little trouble.’ From time to time Ellen heard noises outside, footsteps muffled and a low voice, but she said nothing. Jasper told that the trial was set for October and told a little of what the lawyer advised, speaking with reticence but speaking straightforwardly, a clear story.

‘Is somebody along with you?’ Jasper asked.

‘A couple of men I fetched along,’ Nathan said, ‘and Tom. You remember Tom.’

They sat in silence after that until Ellen could hear the small clock on the shelf as it ticked. The man was older than Jasper by a few years and his dark hair was slightly touched with grey. His hands were large and strong and they hung idly folded between his knees.