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“I’ll be daet you, Marcus,” I said

I reached out my arms and embraced him He was surprised, but he let me do it, and even patted me on the back

“You were the only one who helped et her to Dr Frederick

If you hadn’t, she ht have died”

Marcus toldafter the time of Mama’s stroke They wound up in central Indiana, where his father worked for a cattle farro teachers college in Gary and had landed a job with the largest colored newspaper in the state

And now, he said, he had convinced his editors to send him to Mississippi to cover the White Raiders Trial because he had a personal interest in one of the defendants “Henry North,” he said “I knew him You did, too”

“I did?”

Marcus said, “Do you remember that redheaded boy that worked with me at Jenkins’ Mercantile? He helped us carry your mama out that day That boy is Henry North”

Sure, I remembered the loutish boy He was thin and raw-boned in those days He had said Mama was drunk, to leave her where she lay

“I remember the day your mama took sick,” Marcus said, “like it was yesterday You weren’t rown man You answered old Sanders back like he deserved And you helpedto turn into a fine man”

I was speechless Marcus’s words madeMarcus’s exaht about him in quite a while

“I’ve paid close attention to your law career, Mr Corbett—helping people up in Washington, helping wherever you can When I sa you were turning out, I tell you, it gavethe way”

Seeing Marcus again, hearing hiy As if I’d just received new blood, a whole body’s worth of it

Without knowing it, I had given Marcus “a little hope along the way”

And now Marcus had given me hope for the difficult murder trial that lay ahead