The word "lost—lost—lost" dinged frighteningly in her heart like a death bell sounding.
Her eyes went quickly to his but they were wide and crystal gray and they were looking through her and beyond her at some fate she could not see, could not understand.
"Lost? Do you mean—have you done something the Atlanta Yankees can get you for? I mean, about helping Tony get away or—or—Oh, Ashley, you aren't in the Ku Klux, are you?"
His remote eyes came back to her swiftly and he smiled a brief smile that never reached his eyes.
"I had forgotten you were so literal. No, it's not the Yankees I'm afraid of. I mean if I go to Atlanta and take help from you again, I bury forever any hope of ever standing alone."
"Oh," she sighed in quick relief, "if it's only that!
"Yes," and he smiled again, the
