On the morning of the fourth day there was a knock of a different sort at his door. It was the law with a warrant for his arrest. His overseas creditors had begun the proceedings they warned him about.
This once rich, happy, proud and generous benefactor was about to be arrested and no doubt with much publicity, humiliated and dragged to prison like a common criminal.
As the dark figures of two law‑officers stood in his doorway, Jerry desperately searched his mind for someone in his past that may be able to help him. The banks had pulled tight their purse strings and he now owned nothing of material value with which he could negotiate. The situation was utterly hopeless. His heart sunk into even deeper despondency. What was happening didn't seem real.
Suddenly, he remembered a man named Theodore Lawson, who lived near the property where he first struck oil. This neighbor was exceptionally wealthy, but the two had become hostile enemies, mainly because he frowned on Jerry's infidelity. One night, years earlier, when the two families gathered for an evening meal at the Adamson’s, Jerry had greatly insulted Grace, Theodore's wife, by making an unwanted and drunken advance towards her. This had caused terrible ill feelings between them because she was a delicate and virtuous woman. When Theodore confronted him about his low moral ethics, Jerry told him in no uncertain terms that his life was none of his business, and had had him physically thrown off his property. The two had been at enmity ever since.
But Jerry knew that Theodore was a religious man, and there was a chance he would forgive him for what he had done. Perhaps he would lend him the money he needed to get the law off his back and rescue him out of his terrible nightmare. In the light of the way he had treated him, it would be very humbling to ask, but it was his last and only hope. He obtained permission from the officers to make one call. He slowly lifted the phone and dialed the number.
When Grace answered the phone, Jerry nervously said,
"May I please speak to your husband?" She immediately recognized his voice and warmly answered,
"Jerry. Why don't you come in person and see us? Theo has often spoken of you. He has closely followed everything you have been doing."
Jerry couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was amazing that Grace remembered him and that her husband had actually shown an interest in what he had been doing. He put the phone down, walked over to the law‑officers and pleaded that they allow him to visit his old neighbor. When he explained that there was a chance that he could raise some of the money to pay his creditors, they agreed that they would escort him, explaining that if he made one wrong move he would find himself in deep trouble.
He sat quietly in the back of the police car, grateful that the law had at least allowed him to follow this last glimmer of light down the very straight and narrow road to Theodore's house.
After he knocked on the large door, it opened to reveal Grace in all her innocent beauty. She looked deeply into Jerry's weary eyes, reached out compassionately and took him by his hand. It was as though she knew what he had come for. Then she gently took him into Theodore's study.
To be continued.
