ar _her_." (Ally was moaning.) "Stop that whimpering and
whining."

"She can't help it."

"She can help it if she likes. Come, Ally, we're all here----Poor
Mary's come up and Steven. There are things we've got to know and
I insist on knowing them. You've brought the most awful trouble and
shame on me and your sister and brother-in-law, and the least you can
do is to answer truthfully. I can't stand any more of this distressing
altercation. I'm not going to extort any painful confession. You've
only got to answer a simple Yes or No. Were you anywhere with Jim
Greatorex before Dr. Harker saw you in December? Think before you
speak. Yes or No."

She thought.

"N-no."

"Remember, Ally," said Mary, "he saw you in November."

"He didn't. Where?"

The Vicar answered her. "At your sister's wedding."

She recovered. "Of course he did. Jim Greatorex wasn't there, anyhow."

"He was _not_."

The stress had no significance for Ally. Her brain was utterly
bewildered.

"Well. You say you were never anywhere with Greatorex before December.
You were not with him in--when was it, Mary?"

"August," said Mary. "The end of August."

Ally simply stared at him in her white bewilderment. Dates had no
meaning as yet for her cowed brain.

He helped her.

"In the Three Fields. On a Sunday afternoon. Did you or did you not go
into the barn?"

At that she cried out with a voice of anguish. "No--No--No!"

But Mary had her knife ready and she drove it home.

"Ally--Ned Langstaff _saw_ you."

* * * * *

When Rowcliffe came back from Upthorne he found Alice cowering in a
corner of the couch and crying out to her tormentors.

"You brutes--you brutes--if Gwenda was here she wouldn't let you bully
me!"

Mary turned to her husband.

"Steven--will you speak to her? She won't tell us anything. We've been
at it more than half an hour."

Rowcliffe stared at her and the Vicar with strong displeasure.

"I should think you had by the look of her. Why can't you leave the
poor child alone?"

At the sound of his voice, the first voice of compassion that had yet
spoken to her, Alice cried to him.

"Steven! Steven! They've been saying awful things to me. Tell them it
isn't true. Tell them you don't believe it."

"There--there----" His voice stuck in his throat.

He put his hand on her shoulder, standing between her and her father.

"Tell them----" She looked up at him with her piteous eyes.

"S