self. "I try, I try! Every night I pray that the Lord will let me
do right, but it is no use. I might work and work. My hands--look
at them--are rough with work. All my life I have tried to be an
honest man. Now--now--" His voice broke, and it seemed for a
moment as if he would give way to tears. Suddenly he turned on his
wife, the major passion of anger possessing him.

"You are the cause of this," he exclaimed. "You are the sole cause.
If you had done as I told you to do this would not have happened. No,
you wouldn't do that. She must go out! out!! out!!! She has become a
street-walker, that's what she has become. She has set herself right
to go to hell. Let her go. I wash my hands of the whole thing. This is
enough for me."

He made as if to go off to his little bedroom, but he had no sooner
reached the door than he came back.

"She shall get out!" he said electrically. "She shall not stay
under my roof! To-night! At once! I will not let her enter my door
again. I will show her whether she will disgrace me or not!"

"You mustn't turn her out on the streets to-night," pleaded Mrs.
Gerhardt. "She has no place to go."

"To-night!" he repeated. "This very minute! Let her find a home.
She did not want this one. Let her get out now. We will see how the
world treats her." He walked out of the room, inflexible resolution
fixed upon his rugged features.

At half-past five, when Mrs. Gerhardt was tearfully going about the
duty of getting supper, Jennie returned. Her mother started when she
heard the door open, for now she knew the storm would burst afresh.
Her father met her on the threshold.

"Get out of my sight!" he said savagely. "You shall not stay
another hour in my house. I don't want to see you any more. Get
out!"

Jennie stood before him, pale, trembling a little, and silent. The
children she had brought home with her crowded about in frightened
amazement. Veronica and Martha, who loved her dearly, began to
cry.

"What's the matter?" George asked, his mouth open in wonder.

"She shall get out," reiterated Gerhardt. "I don't want her under
my roof. If she wants to be a street-walker, let her be one, but she
shall not stay here. Pack your things," he added, staring at her.

Jennie had no word to say, but the children cried loudly.

"Be still," said Gerhardt. "Go into the kitchen."

He drove them all out and followed stubbornly himself.

Jennie went quietly to her room. She gathered up her few little
b