y answered him with shouts of
applause mingled with a hum of murmured anger underneath. The Chemist
went back to his friends, his face set and serious.

As he dropped in his chair Lylda knelt on the floor before him, laying
her arms on his knees. "I go to do for our people the best I can," she
said softly, looking up into his face. "Now I go, but to you I will come
back soon." The Chemist tenderly put his hand upon the glossy smoothness
of her hair.

"I go--now," she repeated, and reached for one of the vials under her
arm. Holding it in her hand, she stared at it a moment, silently, in
awe. Then she shuddered like a frightened child and buried her face in
the Chemist's lap, huddling her little body up close against his legs as
if for protection.

The Chemist did not move nor speak, but sat quiet with his hand gently
stroking her hair. In a moment she again raised her face to his. Her
long lashes were wet with tears, but her lips were smiling.

"I am ready--now," she said gently. She brushed her tears from her eyes
and rose to her feet. Drawing herself to her full height, she tossed
back her head and flung out her arms before her.

"No one can know I am afraid--but you," she said. "And I--shall forget."
She dropped her arms and stood passive.

"I go now to take the drug--there in the little garden behind, where no
one can notice. You will come down?"

The Big Business Man cleared his throat. When he spoke his voice was
tremulous with emotion.

"How long will you be gone--Lylda?" he asked.

The woman turned to him with a smile. "Soon will I return, so I
believe," she answered. "I go to Orlog, to Raito, and to Tele. But never
shall I wait, nor speak long, and fast will I walk.... Before the time
of sleep has descended upon us, I shall be here."

In the little garden behind the house, out of sight of the crowd on the
other side, Lylda prepared to take the drug. She was standing there,
with the four men, when Loto burst upon them, throwing himself into his
mother's arms.

"Oh, _mamita_, _mamita_," he cried, clinging to her. "There in the
street outside, they say such terrible things----of you _mamita_. 'The
master's woman' I heard one say, 'She has the evil magic.' And another
spoke of Targo. And they say he must not die, or there will be death for
those who kill him."

Lylda held the boy close as he poured out his breathless frightened
words.

"No matter, little son," she said tenderly. "To _mamita_ no har