on the girl. Or was it that? He
seemed to be uneasy as he walked to and fro upon the rock-ledge near
them, whence, had he cared for it, he could have had a gorgeous view of
mountain scenery. But, although he said, as plainly as he could without
actual rudeness, that the girl and her sad tale of tragedy were not
worth attention, he was not successful in his efforts wholly to refuse
to listen to her.

"Infamous!" said Miss Alathea, when the child had finished.

"And that scoundrel has gone free!" exclaimed the Colonel, in disgust.

"_That's_ how I come to live alone, here," Madge went on, addressing
Barbara, particularly. The girl had made her feel it necessary to offer
some defense. "After my mammy died I didn't have no place to go, an' so
I just stayed on here, an' th' bridge my daddy built for his protection
I have kept for mine. Maybe he has told you of it." She indicated Frank.
They nodded.

"And nothing has been heard of the infernal traitor, all these years?"
the Colonel asked.

"He left the mountings when he found how folks was feelin'--they'd have
shot him, like a dog, on sight. But it don't make no differ where he
goes; it don't make a bit of differ where he goes."

"What do you mean by that?" the Colonel asked, and as he spoke, Holton,
suddenly intent, paused in his pacing of the ledge to listen.

"I mean, no matter where he goes he'll have to pay for it, come soon,
come late. Th' day air sure to come when Joe, Ben Lorey's son, 'll meet
him face to face an' make him answer for his crime!"

"God-speed to him!" exclaimed the Colonel, fervently.

Madge, in a gesture full of drama, although quite unconscious, raised
her head, looking off into the vastness of the mountains, her hands
thrust straight down at her sides and clenched, her shoulders squared,
her chest heaving with a mighty intake. The little mountain-girl, as she
stood there, thrilling with her longing for revenge, with prayers that
some day the sinner might be punished for his dreadful crime, made an
impressive figure.

"Come soon or late!" she sighed. "Come soon or late!"

The party watched her, fascinated, till Holton took his daughter's arm
and urged her, uneasily, out of the little group.

Later Madge asked the Colonel to go with her to the pasture lot and take
a look at Little Hawss. Gladly he went with her, tenderly this expert in
Kentucky racers, the finest horses in the world, examined the shaggy
little pony's hoof. He told Madge w