?"

"I didn't know what to do with my baby. I was afraid people'd say I
wasn't married, and then father----"

"Go on from the time you left your cousin's."

Molly thought a minute and proceeded.

"I looked in all the papers to find some one who wanted a baby----"

"So you gave him away? Well, that's easy to overcome. You couldn't
give my baby away, you know."

"No, no, indeed! I didn't give him away.... I boarded him out and
saved money to pay for him. I even took summer boarders. The woman who
had him----"

Molly's long wait prompted the man once more.

"Well?" he said again. "The woman what?"

"The woman began to love the baby very much, and she wasn't very poor,
and didn't need the money. Lots of times I went with it to her, and
she wouldn't take it."

A thought connected with her story made Molly bury her face in her
hands. The man touched her.

"Go on," he said slowly. "Go on. And then?"

"Then once when I went to her she said she was going to take the baby
on a little visit to some relatives and would write me as soon as she
got back."

"Yes," encouraged the low voice.

"She never wrote or came back. I couldn't find where she'd gone, and
father was terribly ill, and I've hoped and hoped----"

"How long since you last saw him?"

Molly considered a moment.

"A long time," she sighed.

"How many years?"

"One!"

"Then he was almost seven years with the woman?"

"Yes," breathed Molly, and they lapsed into silence.

The man meditated a space and Jinnie heard a low, nervous cough come
from his lips.

"Molly," he said presently, "I'm going to have a lot of money soon. It
won't be long, and then we'll find him and begin life all over."

"Oh, I'd love to find him," moaned Molly, "but I couldn't begin over
with you. It's all hateful and horrible now."

The man leaned over and touched her, not too tenderly. When Molly's
face was turned to him, he tilted her chin up.

"You care for some one else?" he said abruptly.

The droop of the girl's head was his answer. He stood up suddenly.

"That's it! That's it! What's his name?"

A shake of her head was all the answer Molly gave him.

"I asked you his name. Get up! Stand up!"

As if to force her to do his will, he took hold of her shoulders
sharply and drew her upward.

"What's his name?"

"It doesn't matter."

"What's his name?"

Virginia did not catch Molly's whisper.

A disbelieving grunt fell from the stranger's lips.

"I reme