know Leander! Yet, after
all, she knew that the real basis of her readjusted vision was her brief
but illuminating acquaintance with Judith Rodney. To Mary, freed for the
first time in her life from the most elegantly provincial of surroundings,
Judith seemed the incarnation of all the splendor and heroism of the West.
And in the glow of her enthusiasm she decided then and there not to
abandon the Yellett educational problem till she should have solved it
successfully. She might not be born to valiant achievement, like these
sturdy folk about her, but she might as well prove to them that an Eastern
tenderfoot was not all feebleness and inefficiency.

"Leander!" called Mrs. Yellett. "Just act as if you was to home and wash
up these dishes."

XVIII

Foreshadowed

Alida awoke, knowing what was to happen. She had dreamed of it, just
before daylight, and lay in bed stupefied by the horror of it, living,
again and again, through each frightful detail. It had happened--there, in
the very room, and before the children; the noise of it had startled them;
and then she woke and knew she had been dreaming. In the dream the noise
had wakened the children--when it really happened they must never know. It
wouldn't be fair to them; they needed a "clean start."

What had she done to keep them quiet? There had been a thunderous knocking
at the door. She had expected it and was prepared; because the lock was
feeble, she had shoved the old brown bureau against the door.

Nothing had happened. What a fool she was to lie there and think of it!
There was the brown bureau against the wall; she could hear the deep
breathing of Jim in the room beyond. Jim had been unequal to the task of
conventionally going to bed the night before, and she had put a pillow
under his head and a quilt over him. She was the last woman in the world
to worry about Jim, drunk, or to nag him for it when sober. But she didn't
like the children to see him that way.

What was it that she had done to quiet the children when "they" rode up?
She had done something and they had gone to sleep again, and she--and
she--oh no, it hadn't happened. What a fool she was to lie there thinking!
There were the children to rouse and dress, and breakfast to cook, and
Jim--Jim would be feeling pretty mean this morning; he'd like a good cup of
coffee. She was glad he was alive to make coffee for.

She got up and, in the uncertainty bred of