be trusted. I've allus paid my
debts, Seabeck. I'm willin' to pay now fer bein' a fool."

"W-where's Charlie?" Billy Louise leaned and whispered the question.

"I d'no, and I don't care. He's pulled out--him an' that breed. I'll
have t' pay yuh for seven growed cattle I never seen till yist'day,
Seabeck. You can set yer own price on 'em. I ain't sure, but I've got
an idee they was shot las' night an' dumped in the river. You c'n set
yer price. I've got rheumatiz so bad I couldn't go 'n' put a stop to
nothin'--but--"

"Oh, Marthy!" Billy Louise was shivering and crying now. "Marthy!
Don't be so--so hard. It was all Charlie--"

"Yes," said Marthy harshly, "it was all Charlie. He was a thief, an' I
was sech a simple-minded old fool I never knowed what he was. I let
him go ahead, an' I set in the house with a white apurn tied on me an'
thought I was havin' an easy time. I set here and let him rob my
neighbors that I ain't never harmed er cheated out of a cent, and
soon's he thought he was found out, he--left ole Marthy to look after
herself. Never so much as fed the hogs or done the milkin' first!
Looky here, Seabeck! You'll git paid back, an' I'll take your figgers
fer what I owe, but if you git after Charlie, I'll--kill yuh. You let
'im go, I'm the one he hurt most--and I ain't goin'--" She laid her
frowsy old head on her arms, like one who is utterly crushed and dumb.

"Oh, Marthy!" Billy Louise knelt and threw her arms around Marthy's
shoulders.

"You've got to come and lie down, Marthy," said Billy Louise, after a
long, unbroken silence.

"Mr. Seabeck, if you'll start a fire, I'll make some tea for her.
Come, Marthy--just to please me. Do it for Billy Louise, Marthy."

The old woman rose stiffly, and with a feebleness that seemed utterly
foreign to her usual energy, permitted Billy Louise to lead her from
the kitchen. In the sitting-room that Charlie had built and furnished
for her, Marthy lay and stared around her with that same dull apathy
she had shown from the first. Only once did she manifest any real
emotion, and that was when Billy Louise came in with some tea and toast.

"You take all them books outa them shelves an' burn 'em up," she
commanded. "An' you take them two pictures off'n that shelf, of him
an' her, an' bring 'em t' me."

Billy Louise set the toast and tea down on a chair and brought the
pictures. She did not say a word, but she looked a little scared and
her eyes