t of the Mohegans." Then he groaned, and the eyelids drooped down
again. He was not dead. She knew that, the chest still rose and fell,
and the gurgling still continued in his throat.

She looked up. Mercedes stood beside her. The old woman's eyes were very
bright, her withered cheeks flushed.

"Will you help me carry him into the house?" Saxon asked.

Mercedes nodded, turned to a sergeant of police, and made the request to
him. The sergeant gave a swift glance at Bert, and his eyes were bitter
and ferocious as he refused.

"To hell with'm. We'll care for our own."

"Maybe you and I can do it," Saxon said.

"Don't be a fool." Mercedes was beckoning to Mrs. Olsen across the
street. "You go into the house, little mother that is to be. This is bad
for you. We'll carry him in. Mrs. Olsen is coming, and we'll get Maggie
Donahue."

Saxon led the way into the back bedroom which Billy had insisted on
furnishing. As she opened the door, the carpet seemed to fly up into her
face as with the force of a blow, for she remembered Bert had laid that
carpet. And as the women placed him on the bed she recalled that it was
Bert and she, between them, who had set the bed up one Sunday morning.

And then she felt very queer, and was surprised to see Mercedes
regarding her with questioning, searching eyes. After that her queerness
came on very fast, and she descended into the hell of pain that is given
to women alone to know. She was supported, half-carried, to the front
bedroom. Many faces were about her--Mercedes, Mrs. Olsen, Maggie
Donahue. It seemed she must ask Mrs. Olsen if she had saved little Emil
from the street, but Mercedes cleared Mrs. Olsen out to look after Bert,
and Maggie Donahue went to answer a knock at the front door. From the
street came a loud hum of voices, punctuated by shouts and commands, and
from time to time there was a clanging of the gongs of ambulances
and patrol wagon's. Then appeared the fat, comfortable face of Martha
Shelton, and, later, Dr. Hentley came. Once, in a clear interval,
through the thin wall Saxon heard the high opening notes of Mary's
hysteria. And, another time, she heard Mary repeating over and over.
"I'll never go back to the laundry. Never. Never."

CHAPTER X

Billy could never get over the shock, during that period, of Saxon's
appearance. Morning after morning, and evening after evening when he
came home from work, he would enter the room where she lay and fight a
royal bat