o in a crisis like that. He had made up his mind to do the right thing,
and she loved him all the more for it. And so they parted.

"When Tom reached 'Pipeclay', the girl's relations, that she was
stopping with, had a parson readied up, and they were married the same
day."

"And what happened after that?" asked Mitchell.

"Nothing happened for three or four months; then the child was born. It
wasn't his!"

Mitchell stood up with an oath.

"The girl was thoroughly bad. She'd been carrying on with God knows how
many men, both before and after she trapped Tom."

"And what did he do then?"

"Well, you know how the Oracle argues over things, and I suppose he was
as big an old fool then as he is now. He thinks that, as most men would
deceive women if they could, when one man gets caught, he's got no call
to squeal about it; he's bound, because of the sins of men in general
against women, to make the best of it. What is one man's wrong counted
against the wrongs of hundreds of unfortunate girls.

"It's an uncommon way of arguing--like most of the Oracle's ideas--but
it seems to look all right at first sight.

"Perhaps he thought she'd go straight; perhaps she convinced him that he
was the cause of her first fall; anyway he stuck to her for more than
a year, and intended to take her away from that place as soon as he'd
scraped enough money together. It might have gone on up till now, if
the father of the child--a big black Irishman named Redmond--hadn't come
sneaking back at the end of a year. He--well, he came hanging round Mrs.
Marshall while Tom was away at work--and she encouraged him. And Tom was
forced to see it.

"Tom wanted to fight out his own battle without interference, but the
chaps wouldn't let him--they reckoned that he'd stand very little show
against Redmond, who was a very rough customer and a fighting man. My
uncle Bob, who was there still, fixed it up this way: The Oracle was
to fight Redmond, and if the Oracle got licked Uncle Bob was to take
Redmond on. If Redmond whipped Uncle Bob, that was to settle it; but if
Uncle Bob thrashed Redmond, then he was also to fight Redmond's
mate, another big, rough Paddy named Duigan. Then the affair would be
finished--no matter which way the last bout went. You see, Uncle Bob was
reckoned more of a match for Redmond than the Oracle was, so the thing
looked fair enough--at first sight.

"Redmond had his mate, Duigan, and one or two others of the rough gang
th