r toil-worn hands. "Vi told
me about the rich father-in-law who hadn't ever forgiven her. Where is
Billie, Miss Abercrombie? Is she well and happy? She was such a
pretty thing!"

"She is well," Willa responded slowly. "She never knew that it was you
who saved her from the fire."

The scarred face flushed.

"I forgot her first, that was the awful part. She'd been ailing and
her mother couldn't leave her home, so while she did her turn I sat in
her dressing-room, mending my skirt and talking to the kid. When I
heard the shots and the lamp exploded and the blaze flared up, I just
made a jump for the door. Then I remembered Billie and went back, and
the flames caught us both."

"But--but she isn't scarred!" Willa cried.

"No. I--I tore off my skirt and wrapped her in it. Only her little
bare feet stuck out and one of them got burned real bad."

"One--of--her--feet!" repeated Willa breathlessly. "Did it leave a
scar? Oh, think--think!"

"Why, I guess it must have, Miss Abercrombie." The woman stared at
her. "The right foot it was, and there was a bad burn on the inside of
the ankle right up from the heel, like a tongue of flame had licked it.
It wasn't hardly well when Gentleman Geoff took her away."

For a moment Willa sat as if stunned, then she bent swiftly, and,
whipping off her shoe and stocking, thrust out a slender pink foot.
The inner side was seared with a tiny forked red line, slight but
unmistakable.

"You!" Klondike Kate rose slowly. "You are Billie!"

With a little sob Willa went to meet her, and in an instant the two
were crying in each other's arms.

The older woman was the first to recover herself.

"Oh, my dear, to think that I didn't know you! I ought to have seen
from the first--your mother's hair and eyes----"

"But you know me now!" Willa smiled through her tears. "You could
swear to me by that scar, couldn't you? You see, there is someone
trying to claim I'm not the girl you knew as Billie, and I have no
other proof. I never fancied that little scar meant anything; I
haven't thought of it in years. You saved my life once, at the risk of
your own--will you help me now?"

"Will I?" Klondike Kate wiped her eyes. "I'll go to the last ditch
for you! I've lived right for fifteen years, and I guess my word is as
good as the next one's. You just take me to whoever says you're not
little Billie and I'll prove their lie before any court on earth.--That
reminds me; I ha