ange his mind without a pretty good reason. What bought him off?
Nothing but a price would change him, I guess."

And she had to admit: "It was Ruth."

"She paid the price?" he asked harshly. "How, Caroline?"

"She promised to marry him, Ronicky."

The bitter truth was coming now, and she cringed as she spoke it. The
tall body of Ronicky Doone was trembling with excitement.

"She made that promise so that you could go free, Caroline?"

"No, no!" exclaimed Bill Gregg.

"It's true," said the girl. "We were about to leave together when John
Mark stopped us."

"Ruth was coming with you?" asked Ronicky.

"Yes."

"And when Mark stopped you she offered herself in exchange for your
freedom?"

"Y-yes!"

Both she and Bill Gregg looked apprehensively at the dark face of
Ronicky Doone, where a storm was gathering.

But he restrained his anger with a mighty effort. "She was going to cut
away from that life and start over--is that straight, Caroline?"

"Yes."

"Get the police, Ronicky," said Bill Gregg. "They sure can't hold no
woman agin' her will in this country."

"Don't you see that it is her will?" asked Ronicky Doone darkly. "Ain't
she made a bargain? Don't you think she's ready and willing to live up
to it? She sure is, son, and she'll go the limit to do what she's said
she'll do. You stay here--I'll go out and tackle the job."

"Then I go, too," said Bill Gregg stoutly. "You been through enough for
me. Here's where I go as far as you go. I'm ready when you're ready,
Ronicky."

It was so just an offer that even Caroline dared not cry out against it,
but she sat with her hands clasped close together, her eyes begging
Ronicky to let the offer go. Ronicky Doone nodded slowly.

"I hoped you'd say that, Bill," he said. "But I'll tell you what: you
stay here for a while, and I'll trot down and take a look around and try
to figure out what's to be done. Can't just walk up and rap at the front
door of the house, you know. And I can't go in the way I went before. No
doubt about that. I got to step light. So let me go out and look around,
will you, Bill? Then I'll come back and tell you what I've decided."

Once in the street Ronicky looked dubiously across at the opposite
house. He realized that more than an hour had passed since Caroline had
left John Mark's house. What had happened to Ruth in that hour? The
front of the house was lighted in two or three windows, but those lights
could tell him nothing. From