y,
his infuriated eyes held Mary like something tangible, and drew her
forth from her shadows.

"She's--mine!" the woman panted. For the first time in her life she
was awed by Morley; "she's mine and--the devil's. That was the bargain
and no questions asked. The devil pays good wages, Mart. We'll--we'll
share with you!"

The woman was actually whining and seeking to propitiate the man.

"I've been true to you, Mart. Sure as God hears me, and 'taint cause
I'm old and unsought either. I'll look after her, Mart--but--we-all
have got to live!"

Morley tried to control himself before he spoke, and finally managed to
say, not unkindly:

"Molly, you go upstairs. Shut--shut and lock the door!"

"Mart!" Genuine terror rang in Mary's tones. "Mart--she's mine
and----"

"Go!" commanded Morley, and the child almost ran to do his bidding.
Then alone the man and woman faced each other. Desperation gave
courage to Mary. If all were lost but her physical strength and
bravado, then she must use them.

"You did what you wanted to do with him as was yours," she panted; "you
helped him away, and left us-all to starve. You leave--Molly to me
and----"

"Stop!" cried Morley, unable to hear the brutal repetition. "You would
sell the--the child to Teale and his kind?"

"It's the only way, Mart. I'll keep my hold on her--they----"

"You!" And then, driven by the outraged virtue of the suppressed and
forgotten past, Morley gave expression to his emotions in the language
of The Hollow. For the first time in his life he struck a woman!

Once the deed was done he reeled back, calmed at once into frozen
horror. Mary staggered and fell. In falling she struck her head
against the andirons on the hearth and lay quite, quite still while a
stream of blood from a cut behind the left ear mingled with the ashes
and turned them dark and moist. It seemed hours that Morley looked and
looked before he could master himself and move toward the woman upon
the floor. Finally he listened to her heart, but his own pulsing ears
deceived him; he tried to raise her up, but his strength was gone, and
he let the lifeless body drop again on the hearth. Then a craven
desperation overcame him. Gone were his courage and power, like a
maddened criminal he strode to the stairway and wrenched the locked
door from its hinges and sprang up to where Molly, sobbing and moaning,
crouched in the far corner.

"Come," he whispered; "come!"

"Where