'I'll tell ye the whole on't, Johnnie. Ye sees, we lived i'
Yarm--mother and me. Mother, she sewed books fur a book-binding man; an'
we'd a little coming in as father'd saved. Well, mother, she was feared
lest I'd fall into rough ways like, an' she kep' me in a good bit, an'
there was a man as helped i' the book-binding----' she stopped, and then
said half under her breath--

'His name was Dan'el, Dan'el McGair, it was.'

'Go on, Jen.'

'He was a leaen man and white to look at. He was very pious, and knowed
lots o' things. Least, I don't know if he was pious, fur he didn't go to
church, but he'd his own thoughts o' things, an' he was steady, an' kep'
himself to himself. He niver telled me his thoughts o' things--he said
it 'ud unsettle me like--but he taught me reading; an' mother, she liked
his coming constant to see us. As fur as I knows, he was a good man; but
I tell ye, Johnnie, that man had a will--whatsoever thing Dan'el McGair
wanted, that thing he mun have, if he died i' the getting. He was about
forty, an' I was nigh on twenty; it was after he'd taught me reading,
an' whenever I'd go out here or there, or do this or that he didn't
like, he'd turn as white as snow, an' tremble like a tree-stem i' the
wind, an' dare me to do anything as he didn't like. Ye sees he allus had
that power over mother to make her think like him, but I wouldn't give
in to him. If I'd gived in--well, I doaent know what 'ud 'a comed. God
knows what did come were bad enow.' She stopped speaking and toed the
damp ground--crushing her boot into the frosty mud and drawing it
backwards and forwards as she stood against the gate.

'Go on, Jen.'

'Ye sees, what he willed to get, that he mun have, an' at the end he
willed to have me--mind, body, an' soael. He'd 'a had me, only I made a
stand fur my life. Mother, she was all on his side, only she didn't want
fur me to do what I wouldn't; but she cried like, an' talked o' his
goodness--an' Dan'el, he wouldn't ask out an' out, or I could 'a told
him my mind an' 'a done wi' it; but he went on giving us, an' paying
things, an' mother she took it all, till I was fairly mad wi' the shame
an' anger on't. I doaent say as I acted as I ought; I knowed I'd a power
over him to drive him wild like wi' a smile or a soft word, an' power's
awful dangerous fur a young thing--it's like as if God gave the wind a
will o' its own, an' didn't howd it in His own hand. Then I was feared
o' Dan'el's power over mothe