m, then," said Geraldine eagerly.

"He was out here a number o' times. Rufus seemed to be his favorite man
o' business, as you might say."

"Oh, Mrs. Carder, tell me all you can about his visits here." The girl's
heart began to beat faster and she drew the clean, dried-up old woman
down upon the edge of the bed beside her. Why should her father choose
this dreadful place, this impossible man as a refuge? It could only have
been as a last resort for him, just as it now was for her.

"I was always away at school after his marriage," she went on. "I saw so
little of him."

Mrs. Carder looked uneasy.

"I saw nothin' of him except at a meal sometimes. He and my son was
always shut up in Rufus's office."

"Did he seem--seem unhappy, Mrs. Carder?"

"Well--yes. He was a sort of an absent-minded man. Perhaps that was his
way. Really, I don't know a thing about their business, Miss Melody."
The addition was made in sudden panic because the girl had grasped both
the wrinkled hands and was gazing searchingly into the old woman's face
as if she would wring information out of her.

"You wouldn't tell me if you did," said Geraldine in a low voice. "You
are afraid of your son. I saw it in your eyes downstairs. Had my father
reason to be afraid of him? Tell me that. That is what I want to know."

"Your father is dead. What difference does it make?" asked the old
woman, looking from side to side as if for a means of escape from the
strong young hands and eyes.

"Yes, poor Daddy. Well, I have come to help you, Mrs. Carder." The
speaker released the wrinkled hands and the old woman rose in relief. "I
have come to work for you, not for your son, and I am not going to be
afraid of him."

The mother shook her head.

"We all work for him, my dear. He holds the purse-strings."

Geraldine seemed to see him holding the actual bag and leering at her
over it with his odious, oblique eye and smile.

"And let me give you a word of advice," continued the old woman,
lowering her voice and looking toward the door. "Don't make him mad.
It's terrible when he's angry." She winked and lowered her voice to a
whisper. "He's crazy about you and he's the biggest man in the county."
The old woman nodded and snapped her eyes knowingly. "You've got a home
here for life if you don't make him mad. For life. I'll go down and make
the tea. You come down pretty soon."

She disappeared, leaving Geraldine standing in the middle of the room.
She looked