taken.

But this was only a small part of the cause of her present mood. She
had not at first had the vaguest understanding of the bonds which
really fettered her, holding her fast to the life that had been hers
for so long. Now she knew. And the knowledge brought with it its
bitter cost. Some forewarning had been hers when she appealed to her
lover for the possession of her children. But although her mother's
instinct had been stirred to alarm at parting, she had not, at that
time, experienced the real horror of what she was doing in abandoning
her children.

She was inconsolable now. With all her mind and heart she was crying
out for the warm, moist pressure of infant lips. Her whole body
yearned for those who were flesh of her flesh, for the gentle beating
hearts to which her body had given life. They were hers--hers, and of
her own action she had put them out of her life. They were hers, and
she was maddened at the thought that she had left them to another.
They were hers, and--yes, she must have them. Whatever happened, they
must be restored to her. Life would be intolerable without them.

She was in a wholly unreasoning state of mind. All the mother in her
was uppermost, craving, yearning, panting for her own. For the time,
at least, all else was lost in an overwhelming regret, and such a
power of love for her offspring, that she had no room for the man who
had brought about the separation.

She was a selfish woman, and had always craved for the best that life
could give her, but now that her mother-love was truly roused her
selfishness knew no bounds. She had no thought for anybody, no
consideration. She could have none until her desire was satisfied.

Her tortured heart grew angry against Scipio. She was driven to fury
against James. What mattered it that her lover had so far fulfilled
all his other promises to her, if he did not procure the children and
return them to her arms? What mattered it that she was surrounded
with luxury uncommon on the prairie, a luxury she had not known for so
many years?

She had her own rooms, where no one intruded without her consent. The
spacious house had been ransacked to make them all that she could
desire. All the outlaw's associates were herded into the background,
lest their presence should offend her. Even James himself had
refrained from forcing his attentions upon her, lest, in the first
rush of feeling at her breaking with the old life, they should be
unwelcome