rt was touched and her nerves soothed by his voice, as well
as by the touch of his hand, and when they left the house she was in
peaceful sleep, and the doctor's report was reassuring. "But she must
have rest," he said, positively, "and freedom from care."

"She shall have it," said Haney, with equal decision.

This bluff kindness, joined to the allurement of his powerful form,
profoundly affected the girl. Her heart went out towards him in
admiration and trust, and as they were on the way home she turned
suddenly to him, and said:

"You're good to me--and you were good to mother; you needn't wait till
to-morrow for my answer. I'll do as you want me to--some time--not
now--next spring, maybe."

He put his arm about her and kissed her, his eyes dim with a new and
softening emotion.

"You've made Mart Haney over new--so you have! As sure as God lets me
live, I'll make you happy. You shall live like a queen."

CHAPTER IV

HANEY MEETS AN AVENGER

Haney took the train back to his mountain town in a mood which made him
regard his action as that of a stranger. Whenever he recalled Bertha's
trusting clasp of his hand he felt like removing his hat--the stir of
his heart was close akin to religious reverence. "Faith, an' she's
taking a big risk," he said. "But I'll not see her lose out," he added,
with a return of the gambler's phrase. "She has stacked her chips on the
right spot this time."

With all his brute force, his clouded sense of justice, this gambler,
this saloon-man, was not without qualifying characteristics. He was a
Celt, and in almost every Celt there is hidden a poet. Quick to wrath,
quick to jest and fierce in his loves was he, as is the typical Irishman
whom England has not yet succeeded in changing to her own type.
Moreover, he was an American as well as a Celt (and the American is the
most sentimental of men--it is said); and now that he had been surprised
into honorable matrimony he began to arrange his affairs for his wife's
pleasure and glory. The words in which she had accepted him lingered in
his ears like phrases of a little hesitating song. For her he had sold
his gambling halls, for her he was willing at the moment to abandon the
associates of a lifetime.

He was sitting in the car dreamily smoking, his hat drawn low over his
brows, when an acquaintance passing through the car stopped with a word
of greeting. Ordinarily Haney would have been glad of his company, but
he made a place