tep, as though the sight
of him kept her back in fear. To the miserable soul of Donnegan she
seemed all that was lovely, young, and pure; and her hair, old gold in
the shadow and pale gold where the lamp struck it, was to Donnegan like
a miraculous light about her face.

Indeed, that little pause was a great and awful moment. For considering
that Donnegan, who had gone through his whole life with his eyes ready
either to mock or hate, and who had rarely used his hand except to make
a fist of it; Donnegan who had never, so far as is known, had a
companion; who had asked the world for action, not kindness; this
Donnegan now stood straight with his back against the wall, and poured
out the story of his wayward life to a mere slip of a girl.

6

Even the old woman, whose eyes were sharpened by her habit of looking
constantly for the weaknesses and vices of men, could not guess what was
going on behind the thin, rather ugly face of Donnegan; the girl,
perhaps, may have seen more. For she caught the glitter of his active
eyes even at that distance. The hag began to explain with vicious
gestures that set the light flaring up and down.

"He ain't come from nowhere, Lou," she said. "He ain't going nowhere; he
wants to stay here for the night."

The foot which had been suspended to take the next step was now
withdrawn. Donnegan, remembered at last, whipped off his cap, and at
once the light flared and burned upon his hair. It was a wonderful red;
it shone, and it had a terrible blood tinge so that his face seemed pale
beneath it. There were three things that made up the peculiar dominance
of Donnegan's countenance. The three things were the hair, the uneasy,
bright eyes, and the rather thin, compressed lips. When Donnegan slept
he seemed about to waken from a vigorous dream; when he sat down he
seemed about to leap to his feet; and when he was standing he gave that
impression of a poise which is ready for anything. It was no wonder that
the girl, seeing that face and that alert, aggressive body, shrank a
little on the stairs. Donnegan, that instant, knew that these two women
were really alone in the house as far as fighting men were concerned.

And the fact disturbed him more than a leveled gun would have done. He
went to the foot of the stairs, even past the old woman, and, raising
his head, he spoke to the girl.

"My name's Donnegan. I came over from the railroad--walked. I don't want
to walk that other eight mi