he took up her
position beside her lover and waited for him to begin.

The opening was a painful one for everybody. Iredale scarcely knew how
to face those gentle folk and recount his disgraceful story. He
thought of all they had been to him during his long years upon the
prairie. He thought of their implicit trust and faith in him. He
almost quailed before the steady, honest eyes of the old people.
However, he at last forced himself to his task, and plunged into his
story with uncompromising bluntness.

"I am accused of murder," he said, and paused, while a sickly feeling
pervaded his stomach.

Mrs. Malling nodded her head. She was too open to remain silent long.

"Of Leslie Grey," she said at once. "And ye needn't to tell us nothin'
more, George. We know the yarn you are about to tell us. An' d'ye
think we're goin' to believe any addle-pated scalliwag such as my
Hervey, agin' you? Smuggler you may be, but that you've sunk to
killin' human flesh not even a minister o' the Gospel's goin' to
convince me. Here, I respects the man I give my hand to. Shake me by
the hand, George--shake me by the hand." And the farm-wife rose from
her chair and ambled across the room with her hand outstretched.

Iredale clasped it in both of his. And never in his life had he
experienced such a burst of thankfulness as he did at that moment. His
heart was too full to speak. Prudence smiled gravely as she watched
this whole-hearted token of her mother's loyalty to a friend. Nor was
Sarah backward in her expression of goodwill.

"Hephzibah's right, George, and she speaks for both of us. But there's
work to be done for all that. Hervey's to be dealt with."

"To be bribed," said Hephzibah uncompromisingly, as she returned to
her seat.

Iredale shook his head and his face set sternly. Prudence saw the look
she feared creep into her lover's eyes. She opened her lips to
protest, but the words remained unspoken. She had heard the rattle of
a buckboard outside. The sound died away, and she knew that the
vehicle had passed round to the barn. She waited in an agony of
suspense for her brother's appearance.

"You needn't to shake your head," went on the farm-wife. "This
matter's my concern. It's my dollars as is goin' to pay Master
Hervey--an' when he gets 'em may they blister his fingers, I sez."

Prudence heard a footstep in the hall. The crucial moment had arrived,
and her heart palpitated with nervous apprehension. Before Iredale
could r