ed over to the
chuck-box, smiling as she noted the bulging sides; her eyes glowing with
satisfaction when she lifted the lid and saw the well-filled interior.
She paused before the shelf upon which reposed a supply of canned foods;
and exclaimed with delight when she saw, affixed to the wall near the
door, a piece of broken mirror. She spent some time looking into the
glass, combing her hair with a fragment of comb she found on a shelf
beside the mirror.

She had finished when she heard a knock on the door. She removed the
bar, and when Lawler stepped in, closing the door instantly to keep out
the rush of wind, she was standing in a corner, smiling demurely at him.

His face was grave, and he did not respond to her mood as he stood
there, watching her.

"Well," she said, after a silence, during which his face did not change
expression; "can't you say something complimentary?" She lifted her eyes
challengingly, as though to invite his inspection.

He saw that the tragedy had not affected her as it would have affected
some women--his mother and Ruth Hamlin, for example--though he veiled
the reproof in his eyes with a smile. The vanity she exhibited, her
self-interest, egotism disgusted him.

"You've found the mirror," he said. "Well, you look pretty well slicked
up. What happened last night seems to have affected you very little."

"Why should it?" she demanded, defiantly. "I don't intend to brood over
two men that I did not know--two men who attempted to commit murder! Of
course, it was an awful shock, and all that, but I am not going into
hysterics over it. Besides, I didn't kill them."

Lawler abruptly turned away from her and walked to the fireplace. His
face was pale and his eyes were glowing with contempt. She followed him
as far as the table, her lips in a pout--and stood there watching him,
her gaze mocking, defiant.

He finally turned and looked at her, his lips set in straight lines.

"Yes, I killed them, Miss Wharton," he said, evenly. "Do you know why?"

"Because they seemed determined to kill you--because they attacked you,
I suppose," she returned.

"You are wrong, Miss Wharton. There was nothing personal in that
killing. Those men were carrying out a principle of the unscrupulous
system you defended in our talk last night. If there had been no system
those men would not have attempted to cut my fence, I would not have
captured them, and they would not have attempted to kill me. Do you see
what