y. Aunt Kate sat with her feet
on a hassock, rocking gently and watching and listening. Black Andy was
behind the great stove with his chair tilted back, carving the bowl of
a pipe; the old man sat rigid by the table, looking straight before him
and smacking his lips now and then as he was won't to do at meeting;
while Cassy, with her chin in her hands and elbows on her knees, gazed
into the fire and waited for the storm to break.

Her little flashes of humour at dinner had not brightened things, and
she had had an insane desire to turn cart-wheels round the room, so
implacable and highly strained was the attitude of the master of the
house, so unctuous was the grace and the thanksgiving before and
after the meal. Abel Baragar had stored up his anger and his righteous
antipathy for years, and this was the first chance he had had of
visiting his displeasure on the woman who had "ruined" George, and who
had now come to get "rights," which he was determined she should not
have. He had steeled himself against seeing any good in her whatever.
Self-will, self-pride, and self-righteousness were big in him, and so
the supper had ended in silence, and with a little attack of coughing
on the part of Cassy, which made her angry at herself. Then the boy had
been put to bed, and she had come back to await the expected outburst.
She could feel it in the air, and while her blood tingled in a desire
to fight this tyrant to the bitter end, she thought of her boy and his
future, and she calmed the tumult in her veins.

She did not have to wait very long. The querulous voice of the old man
broke the silence.

"When be you goin' back East? What time did you fix for goin'?" he
asked.

She raised her head and looked at him squarely. "I didn't fix any time
for going East again," she replied. "I came out West this time to stay."

"I thought you was on the stage," was the rejoinder.

"I've left the stage. My voice went when I got a bad cold again, and
I couldn't stand the draughts of the theatre, and so I couldn't dance,
either. I'm finished with the stage. I've come out here for good and
all.

"Where did you think of livin' out here?"

"I'd like to have gone to Lumley's, but that's not possible, is it?
Anyway, I couldn't afford it now. So I thought I'd stay here, if there
was room for me."

"You want to board here?"

"I didn't put it to myself that way. I thought perhaps you'd be glad to
have me. I'm handy. I can cook, I can sew,