n almost master ing him. "And now I have
found the lost face that haunted me so."

"Ay," said Bess, "it was hers;" and she hurried on huskily: "When you
went away she couldna abide th' lonesomeness, an' so one day she said to
her brother, 'Dave, let us go to th' new mine wheer Mester Ed'ard is;'
an' him bein' allus ready fur a move, they started out together. But
on th' way th' lad took sick and died sudden, an' Jinny wur left to
hersen'. An' then she seed new trouble. She wur beset wi' danger as
she'd niwer thowt on, an' before long she foun' out as women didna work
o' this side o' the sea as they did o' ours. So at last she wur driv'
upon a strange-loike plan. It sounds wild, happen, but it wasna so wild
after aw. Her bits of clothes giv' out an' she had no money; an' theer
wur Dave's things. She'd wore th' loike at her work i' Deepton, an' she
made up her moind to wear 'em agen. Yo' didna know her when she coom
here, an' no one else guessed at th' truth. She didna expect nowt, yo'
see; she on'y wanted th' comfort o' hearin' th' voice she'd longed an'
hungered fur; an' here wur wheer she could hear it. When I fun' her out
by accident, she towd me, an' sin' then we 've kept th' secret together.
Do yo' guess what else theer's been betwixt us, mester?"

"I think I do," he answered. "God forgive me for my share in her pain!"

"Nay," she returned, "it was no fault o' thine. She niwer had a thowt o'
that. She had a patient way wi' her, had Jinny, an' she bore her trouble
better than them as hopes. She didna ax nor hope neyther; an' when theer
coom fresh hurt to her she wur ready an' waiting knowin' as it moight
comn ony day. Happen th' Lord knows what life wur give her fur--I
dunnot, but it's ower now--an' happen she knows hersen'. I hurried here
to-neet," she added, battling with a sob, "as soon as I heerd as she was
missin', th' truth struck to my heart, an' I thowt as I should be here
first, but I wasna I ha' not gotten no more to say."

They went back to the shanty, and with her own hands she did for the
poor clay the last service it would need, Langley and his companion
waiting the while outside. When her task was at an end she came to them,
and this time it was Langley who addressed himself to her. "May I go
in?" he asked.

She bent her head in assent, and without speaking he left them and
entered the shanty alone. The moonlight, streaming in as before, fell
upon the closed eyes, and hands folded in the old, old f