Instantly I decided I would hurry back to Port Vigor without delay.
If Andrew had had the Professor locked up, it could only be on the
charge of defrauding me. Certainly it couldn't be for giving him a
bloody nose on the road from Shelby. And if I appeared to deny the
charge, surely they would have to let Mr. Mifflin go.

I believe I must have been talking to myself in Peg's stall--at
any rate, just at this moment the stableman appeared and looked
very bewildered when he saw me, with flushed face and in obvious
excitement, talking to the horse. I asked him when was the next
train to Port Vigor.

"Well, ma'am," he said, "they say that all the local trains is held
up till the wreck at Willdon's cleared away. This being Sunday, I
don't think you'll get anything from here until to-morrow morning."

I reflected. It wasn't so awfully far back to Port Vigor. A flivver
from the local garage could spin me back there in a couple of
hours at the most. But somehow it seemed more fitting to go to the
Professor's rescue in his own Parnassus, even if it would take
longer to get there. To tell the truth, while I was angry and
humiliated at the thought of his being put in jail by Andrew, I
couldn't help, deep down within me, being rather thankful. Suppose
he had been in the wreck? The Sage of Redfield had played the part
of Providence after all. And if I set out right away with Parnassus,
I could get to Port Vigor--well, by Monday morning anyway.

The good people of the Moose Hotel were genuinely surprised at
the hurry with which I dispatched my lunch. But I gave them no