"
That was enough! Peter put down the letter--he would not dignify
such stuff by reading it. He realized that he would have to put his
mind on the problem of Mrs. Godd once more. One woman like that, in
her position of power, was more dangerous than all the seventeen
"wobblies" who had been haled before the court. Peter inquired, and
learned that Guffey had already been to see Nelse Ackerman about it,
and Mr. Ackerman had been to see Mr. Godd, and Mr. Godd had been to
see Mrs. Godd. Also the "Times" had an editorial referring to the
"nest of Bolshevism" upon Mount Olympus, and all Mrs. Godd's friends
were staying away from her luncheon-parties--so she was being made
to suffer for her insolence to Peter Gudge!
"A hospital for deformed souls," indeed! Peter was so upset that his
joy in life was not restored even by the news that the jury had
found the defendants guilty on the first ballot. He told McGivney
that the strain of this trial had been too much for his nerves, and
they must take care of him; so an automobile was provided, and Peter
was taken to a secret hiding place in the country to recuperate.
Hammett went with him, and Hammett was a first-class gunman, and
Peter stayed close by him; in the evening he stayed up in the second
story of the farm-house, lest perchance one of the "wobblies" should
take too literally the testimony Peter had given concerning their
habit of shooting at their enemies out of the darkness.
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