rward, looked
down upon his daughter.

"I hain't seed before that she were a-smilin'," he said, taking a long
breath. "Ye says as how she air happy, Tess?"

"Yep; she air with Ben Letts."

"I air a-goin' in to tell her ma that Myry air happy," asserted Longman,
with relief in his voice. "I thank ye, Tess, for tellin' me that she
were. I weren't thinkin' of nothin' but the storm, the water, and the
time that ma and me were a-sleepin' when Myry were a-dyin'. She air
happy, ye air sure, Tess?"

"Yep, for she were a-seekin' Ben Letts. She told me as how--" Tessibel
choked back the words.

"She told ye what?"

Tess was going to tell him of the night on the ragged rocks and of
Myra's broken wrist, but, with a flashing glance at the dead woman,
changed her mind. In her vivid imagination she thought that Myra was
silently entreating her not to speak ill of the dead man in her arms.

"She told me that Ben were the brat's pa, and that--" her eyes gladdened
as she finished--"she were a-lovin' him; and, Satisfied, when we air
a-lovin', and lovin' damn hard, then ain't we happy when we air with
them what we loves?"

She had come close to him, standing near the dead man and woman. The
girl slipped her hand into Longman's reassuringly, as she asked the last
question.

"Yep," replied Satisfied, disappearing into the back room.

Tessibel had forgotten the child in the basket. She turned her eyes
toward it, and a movement of the cover told her that the little Dan was
awake. She was bending over it when Longman appeared at her side.

"Mammy says as how ye air to come in, Tess," he said, his eyes falling
upon the child. "Whose brat air it?" he asked, with no shadowing
suspicion in his glance. "Where did ye get it, Tessibel?"

"I air a-carin' for it for a while. I comed, Satisfied----"

Could she ask these people in sore grief for a dress that the dead child
on the board had worn?

"Ye comed for what?" asked the man.

"I air a-wantin' to take him to the church, and I ain't got no dress for
him. Would Mammy Longman let me take one?"

"Yep. Go in, and tell her. She air in bed."

Tess covered the babe's face, and placed the basket on the table.

"I can't leave him in the hut," she explained; "the rats air too thick."

"Yes," was all Longman said, and he fell to thinking deeply.

Tess crept away to the back room.

"I comed to see ye, Mammy Longman, and----"

"Sit down on the bed," interrupted the tired voice. "Myry a