it. I never
worked harder. They told me she had lost two others, and we tried
everything of which we could think. It just seemed as if it had grown a
lump of flesh, with no vital spark in it."

Dannie turned, went out of the door, and back along the lane to the
river where he had left Jimmy. "'A lump of flesh with na vital spark in
it,'" he kept repeating. "I dinna but that is the secret. She is almost
numb with misery. All these days when she's been without hope, and
these awful nichts, when she's watched and feared alone, she has no
wished to perpetuate him in children who might be like him, and so at
their coming the 'vital spark' is na in them. Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, have ye
Mary's happiness and those three little graves to answer for?"

He found Jimmy asleep where he had left him. Dannie shook him awake. "I
want to talk with ye," he said.

Jimmy sat up, and looked into Dannie's face. He had a complaint on his
lips but it died there. He tried to apologize. "I am almost dead for
sleep," he said. "There has been no rest for anyone here. What do you
think?"

"I think she will live," said Dannie dryly. "In spite of your neglect,
and my cowardice, I think she will live to suffer more frae us."

Jimmy's mouth opened, but for once no sound issued. The drops of
perspiration raised on his forehead.

Dannie sat down, and staring at him Jimmy saw that there were patches
of white hair at his temples that had been brown a week before; his
colorless face was sunken almost to the bone, and there was a peculiar
twist about his mouth. Jimmy's heart weighed heavily, his tongue stood
still, and he was afraid to the marrow in his bones.

"I think she will live," repeated Dannie. "And about the suffering
more, we will face that like men, and see what can be done about it.
This makes three little graves on the hill, Jimmy, what do they mean to
ye?"

"Domn bad luck," said Jimmy promptly.

"Nothing more?" asked Dannie. "Na responsibility at all. Ye are the
father of those children. Have ye never been to the doctor, and asked
why ye lost them?"

"No, I haven't," said Jimmy.

"That is ane thing we will do now," said Dannie, "and then we will do
more, much more."

"What are you driving at?" asked Jimmy.

"The secret of Mary's heart," said Dannie.

The cold sweat ran from the pores of Jimmy's body. He licked his dry
lips, and pulled his hat over his eyes, that he might watch Dannie from
under the brim.

"We are twa big, strong