He were kindly visaged, or if, when His earthly
children sinned, He looked as Horace had looked when she confessed the
lie told to Ann. In her imagination, she framed the Savior of the world
like unto the man she loved when he smiled upon her, and then she
believed, and believed mightily. In likening Jesus to Horace--in
bringing the Savior nearer through the lineaments of her loved one--she
gathered out of her unbelief a great belief that He could, and would,
smooth away all the troubles that had arisen in her life.

* * * * *

That night she turned and tossed for several hours, praying and weeping,
weeping and praying, until from sheer fatigue she lay perfectly quiet.
Suddenly she sat up and listened. The stupor of slumber dulled her
hearing, and she struggled to catch again the sound that had awakened
her. From somewhere across the hall she heard a faint click, click,
which sounded as though some mechanic's tool were being used.

Fledra slipped from the bed and opened the door stealthily. She crept
along the hall in her bare feet, terrified by the muffled sound, and
stopped before the velvet curtains that were drawn closely across the
dining-room doorway. Someone was tampering with the silver chest.

For a moment terror almost forced Fledra back to her room without
investigating; but the thought that somebody was stealing Ann's precious
family plate caused her to slip her fingers between the curtains and
peep in.

The lock of the steel safe was lighted by the rays of a dark-lantern,
and Fledra could see two shadowy figures on the floor before it. One
held the light, while the other turned a small hammer machine containing
a slender drill. The girl did not have the courage to scream a warning
to Horace and the servants, and before she could move of a sudden one of
the men whispered:

"The damn thing is harder'n hell, Lem. I guess I'll take a crack at this
here hinge."

The name awoke the senses of the trembling girl, and instantly she knew
the man who had spoken to be Lon Cronk. A chill gathered round her heart
and froze the very marrow in her bones. She dropped the curtain and fled
back to her room. Standing against the door, she pressed her hands over
her face to stifle the loud breathing. Lem and Lon were robbing the
house! She would be forced then to let thieves have the contents of the
safe; for, if Pappy Lon knew that she and Flukey were housed there, he
would take them awa