tracted
Ettie. "Oh, Jack, Jack, he will hurt you!"

"Oh, it's Jack, is it?" said Baldwin with an oath. "You've come to that
already, have you?"

"Oh, Ted, be reasonable--be kind! For my sake, Ted, if ever you loved
me, be big-hearted and forgiving!"

"I think, Ettie, that if you were to leave us alone we could get this
thing settled," said McMurdo quietly. "Or maybe, Mr. Baldwin, you will
take a turn down the street with me. It's a fine evening, and there's
some open ground beyond the next block."

"I'll get even with you without needing to dirty my hands," said his
enemy. "You'll wish you had never set foot in this house before I am
through with you!"

"No time like the present," cried McMurdo.

"I'll choose my own time, mister. You can leave the time to me. See
here!" He suddenly rolled up his sleeve and showed upon his forearm a
peculiar sign which appeared to have been branded there. It was a
circle with a triangle within it. "D'you know what that means?"

"I neither know nor care!"

"Well, you will know, I'll promise you that. You won't be much older,
either. Perhaps Miss Ettie can tell you something about it. As to you,
Ettie, you'll come back to me on your knees--d'ye hear, girl?--on your
knees--and then I'll tell you what your punishment may be. You've
sowed--and by the Lord, I'll see that you reap!" He glanced at them
both in fury. Then he turned upon his heel, and an instant later the
outer door had banged behind him.

For a few moments McMurdo and the girl stood in silence. Then she threw
her arms around him.

"Oh, Jack, how brave you were! But it is no use, you must fly!
To-night--Jack--to-night! It's your only hope. He will have your life.
I read it in his horrible eyes. What chance have you against a dozen of
them, with Boss McGinty and all the power of the lodge behind them?"

McMurdo disengaged her hands, kissed her, and gently pushed her back
into a chair. "There, acushla, there! Don't be disturbed or fear for
me. I'm a Freeman myself. I'm after telling your father about it. Maybe
I am no better than the others; so don't make a saint of me. Perhaps
you hate me too, now that I've told you as much?"

"Hate you, Jack? While life lasts I could never do that! I've heard
that there is no harm in being a Freeman anywhere but here; so why
should I think the worse of you for that? But if you are a Freeman,
Jack, why should you not go down and make a friend of Boss McGinty? Oh,
hurry, Jack, hurry!