u do, I warn you right now that you need niver mintion the
name of Jimmy Malone to me again, for any reason."

Dannie left the cabin abruptly.

"Now you gone and made him mad!" reproached Tilly.

During the past winter Mary had lived with other married people for the
first time, and she had imbibed some of Mrs. Dolan's philosophy.

"Whin he smells the biscuit I mane to make for breakfast, he'll get
glad again," she said, and he did.

But first he went home, and tried to learn where he stood. WAS HE TRULY
RESPONSIBLE FOR JIMMY'S DEATH? Yes. If he had acted like a man, he
could have saved Jimmy. He was responsible. Did he want to marry Mary?
Did he? Dannie reached empty arms to empty space, and groaned aloud.
Would she marry him? Well, now, would she? After years of neglect and
sorrow, Dannie knew that Mary had learned to prefer him to Jimmy. But
almost any man would have been preferable to a woman, to Jimmy. Jimmy
was distinctly a man's man. A jolly good fellow, but he would not deny
himself anything, no matter what it cost his wife, and he had been very
hard to live with. Dannie admitted that. So Mary had come to prefer him
to Jimmy, that was sure; but it was not a question between him and
Jimmy, now. It was between him, and any marriageable man that Mary
might fancy.

He had grown old, and gray, and wrinkled, though he was under forty.
Mary had grown round, and young, and he had never seen her looking so
beautiful. Surely she would want a man now as young, and as fresh as
herself; and she might want to live in town after a while, if she grew
tired of the country. Could he remember Jimmy's dreadful death, realize
that he was responsible for it, and make love to his wife? No, she was
sacred to Jimmy. Could he live beside her, and lose her to another man
for the second time? No, she belonged to him. It was almost daybreak
when Dannie remembered the fresh bed, and lay down for a few hours'
rest.

But there was no rest for Dannie, and after tossing about until dawn he
began his work. When he carried the milk into the cabin, and smelled
the biscuit, he fulfilled Mary's prophecy, got glad again, and came to
breakfast. Then he went about his work. But as the day wore on, he
repeatedly heard the voice of the woman and the child, combining in a
chorus of laughter. From the little front porch, the green bird warbled
and trilled. Neighbors who had heard of her return came up the lane to
welcome a happy Mary Malone. The dea