eply the door was flung open, and Hervey stood in their midst.
Instantly every eye was turned upon him. He stood for a moment and
looked round. There was a slight unsteadiness in his attitude. His
great eyes looked wilder than ever, and they were curiously bloodshot.
At least one of the three ladies possessed an observant mind. Sarah
saw that the man had been drinking. To her the signs, though slight,
were unmistakable. The others did not seem to notice his condition.

"Ah," he said, with an attempt at pleasantry, "a nice little party.
Well, I've come for the dibs."

His eyes lit upon the figure of George Iredale, and he broke off. The
next moment he went on angrily--

"What's that man doing in this house?" he cried, his eyes fairly
blazing with sudden rage. "Is the place turned into a refuge
for--murderers?"

The man's fury had set fire to the powder train. His mother was on her
feet in a twinkling. Her comfortable body fairly shook in her
indignation. Her face was a flaming scarlet, and her round eyes
sparkled wickedly.

"And who be you to question the calling of my house, Hervey Malling?"
she cried; "since when comes it that you've the right to raise your
voice against my guests? An' by what right d'ye dare to accuse an
innocent man? Answer me, you imp of Evil," she demanded. But she gave
him no time to speak, and went on, her voice rising to a piercing
crescendo. "Spare your wicked tongue, which should be forked by reason
of the lies as has fallen from it. Oh, that you should be able to call
me 'mother.' I'd rather mother the offspring of a rattlesnake than
you. What have you done by us all your life but bring sorrow an'
trouble upon those who've done all that which in them is to help you?
Coward! Traitor! An' you come now with lies on your tongue to harm an
innocent man what's done you no harm." She breathed hard. Then her
wrath swept on, and the room rang with the piercing pitch of her
voice. "You've come for your blood-money--your thirty pieces. You
villain; if your poor father were alive this day he should lay a raw
hide about you till your bones were flayed. Sakes! I've a mind to set
about you myself. Look at him, the black-heart! Look at him all! Was
ever such filth of a man? and him my son. Blood-money! Blood-money!
And to think that I'm living to know it."

She paused. Hervey broke in--

"Silence, you old fool! You don't know what you're talking about. That
man," pointing over at Iredale, who sat wa