"I have some ideas," she said; "some that I had thought I might use
after I had finished school and come back to the store. They may not
be worth much; they were schemes for building up the business there and
adding some other sorts of business to it. The first thing I shall do is
to see how bad the situation really is."

"I hope it isn't bad. Poor Zoeth certainly has had trouble enough in his
life."

There was a significance in his tone which Mary plainly did not
understand.

"What trouble do you mean?" she asked.

The Judge looked at her, coughed, and then said hastily: "Oh, nothing in
particular; every one of us has troubles, I suppose. But, Mary, if--if
you find that the story is true and--ahem--a little money might help
to--er--tide the firm over--why, I--I think perhaps that it might
be--ahem--arranged so that--"

He seemed to be having difficulty in finishing the sentence. Mary did
not wait to hear the end.

"Thank you, Judge," she said quickly. "Thank you, but I am hoping it may
not be so bad as that. I am going back there, you know, and--well, as
Uncle Shadrach would say, we may save the ship yet. At any rate, we
won't call for help until the last minute."

Judge Baxter regarded her with admiration.