You're a foxy old rascal,
Dad, and you've held your own for a good many years. I guess you don't
need more than a word of warning."

He made no reply, his eyes wandering along the path to the bridge. Mary
Louise was coming their way, walking briskly. Her steps slowed a bit as
she drew nearer, but she said in an eager voice:

"Oh, Mrs. Scammel, Josie has told me you are here and who you are.
Isn't it queer how lives get tangled up? But I remember you with
gratitude and kindliest thoughts, because you were so considerate of my
dear Gran'pa Jim. And to think that you are really Ingua's mother!"

Nan rose and took the girl's hands in her own.

"I fear I've been a bad mother to my kid," she replied, "but I thought
she was all right with her grandfather and happy here. I shall look
after her better in the future."

Mary Louise bowed to Mr. Cragg, who nodded his head in acknowledgment.
Then she sat down beside Ingua.

"Are you plannin' to take me away from here, Mama?" asked the child.

"Wouldn't you rather be with me than with your grandfather?" returned
Nan with a smile.

"I dunno," said Ingua seriously. "You're a detective, an' I don't like
detections. You ain't much like a mother to me, neither, ner I don't
know much about you. I dunno yet whether I'm goin' to like you or not."

A wave of color swept over Nan's face; Mary Louise was shocked; the old
man turned his inscrutable gaze down the path once more.

"I like it here," continued the child, musingly: "Gran'dad makes me
work, but he don't bother me none 'cept when the devils get, hold o'
him. I 'member that you git the devils, too, once in awhile, Marm, an'
they're about as fierce as Gran'dad's is. An' I gets 'em 'cause I'm a
Cragg like the rest o' you, an' devils seem to be in the Cragg blood.
I've a notion it's easier to stand the devils in the country here, than
in the city where you live."

Nan didn't know whether to be amused or angry.

"Yet you tried to run away once," she reminded Ingua, "and it was Mary
Louise who stopped you. You told me of this only an hour ago.

"Didn't I say the devils pick on _me_ sometimes?" demanded the girl.
"An' Mary Louise was right. She fought the devils for me, and I'm glad
she did, 'cause I've had a good time with her ever since," and she
pressed Mary Louise's hand gratefully.

Her child's frankness was indeed humiliating to Nan Scammel, who was by
no means a bad woman at heart and longed to win the love and respect