And now that you have--ah--been properly--not to say gloriously--extravagant at poor Judy's expense, we had better do a little thinking, don't you think ?" The man's cheeks reddened at her words; but the straightforward, downright sincerity of those gray eyes, that looked so frankly into his, held him steady; while the interrogation at the end of her remark carried its usual conviction.
"There is only one possible thing left for me to do, Miss Williams," he said earnestly.
"And what is that ?" A smile that sent a glow of courage to Brian Kent's troubled heart accompanied the flat question.
"I can't face Auntie Sue again, knowing what I know now." He spoke with passion.
"Of course you would expect to feel that way, wouldn't you ?" came the matter-of-fact answer.
"The only thing I can do," he continued, "is to give myself up, and go to the penitentiary; arranging, somehow, to do it in such a way that the reward will go to Auntie Sue.

God knows she deserves it! Sheriff Knox would help me fix that part, I am sure." For a moment there was a suspicious moisture in Betty Jo's gray eyes.
Then she said, "And you would really go to prison for Auntie Sue ?" "It is the least I can do for her now," he returned.
And Betty Jo must have felt the sincerity of his purpose, for she said, softly: "I am sure that it would make Auntie Sue very happy to know that you would do that; and"-- she added--"I know that you could not possibly make her more unhappy and miserable than by doing it, could you ?" Again she had given an unexpected turn to the subject with the usual convincing question-mark.
"But what can I do ?" he demanded, letting himself go a little.
Betty Jo steadied him with: "Well, suppose you listen while I consider?
Did I tell you that 'considering' was another of my strong points, Mr.
Burns?
Well, it is.

You may consider me while I consider, if you please.
"The first thing is, that you must make Auntie Sue happy,--as happy as you possibly can do at any cost.

The second thing is, that you must pay her back that money, every penny of it.

Now, it wouldn't make her happy for you to go to prison, and the reward wouldn't pay back all the money; and if you were in prison, you never could pay the rest; besides, if you were wasting your time in prison, she would just die of miserableness, and she wouldn't touch a penny of that reward-money--not if she was to die for want of it.