“You will be opposing Mr. Purdy.  He explained the case to me and asked my advice.  We decided that with the widow in the town, the miners would be more likely to carry out their threat than with her out of sight.  You had better let me carry out my orders.”

“I have made up my mind to see the widow restored to her home,” Harvey repeats.  “Here is the rent money.  I know the spirit of the miners better than either you or Mr. Purdy.”

The sheriff takes the money reluctantly.

Widow Braun is now sitting up, vainly trying to comfort her child.

“You may go back to your home,” says Trueman, as he bends over and helps her to arise.  “I have paid your rent and here is some money for food, and for your next month’s rent.  I shall see that you get work.”

“May God bless you,” cries the widow, bursting into tears.

“You are my prisoner,” Sheriff Marlin declares, as he places his hand on the trembling figure.

“On what charge,” Trueman demands.

“For getting goods from the company’s store on her husband’s card when he was dead, and she had no money to pay for them,” the sheriff asserts, triumphantly.

“But she has money to pay for the food she bought.  And her husband’s card is valid until cancelled.  You had better take care that you do not overstep your authority.  It is not the Widow Braun you have to deal with now.  I am interested in this case.  I am the widow’s counsel.  She has one thousand dollars to her credit on the books of the company’s store.”

Sheriff Marlin is in a fury.  He realizes that he cannot serve two masters and he decides to be faithful to Gorman Purdy.

“It is not my will that you are opposing, Mr. Trueman,” he says with emphasis.  “It is your employer’s.”

The word “employer’s” grates on Harvey’s ears.

“Mr. Purdy is my employer, but he is not my master.  I shall serve my conscience before I do any man.  But I do not believe that Mr. Purdy would countenance this outrage.”

“What do you mean by saying that the widow has a thousand dollars to her credit?” the sheriff asks.

“I mean that she has this thousand dollars,” and Trueman drew the check from his pocket.  “It is to be placed to her credit.  I have something to say about the company stores.”

“I shall take this business direct to Mr. Purdy,” the sheriff threatens as he walks off.

The miners and their wives who have witnessed the quarrel between Trueman and Marlin give expression to their feelings in whispered words of praise for the young lawyer who bid defiance to the Sheriff of Luzerne County, the most dreaded man in that part of Pennsylvania.

The widow grasps Harvey’s hand and before he can withdraw it she covers it with kisses.  Her tears of gratitude fall on his hand.  He appreciates that it is but tardy justice that he is doing to the poor woman.

“You need have no fear of being turned out of your home,” he tells her.  Then he springs back into the saddle.