d animation, not much like
the thin dragged-out creature of to-day. Twenty years! And the two
babies, innocent pawns in the unscrupulous bargain, had again drifted
together as ardent lovers. What would they think if they knew the
truth? In what light would they consider the woman who had taken part
in the transaction? Her mind was in a tumult. She felt that it would
be fatal to tell them. And yet she did want to claim the girl as her
very own, that she might know a real mother's love.

Going back into the house, she took from a drawer the roll of bills
Mrs. Grimsby had given her. She held it in her hand for a few minutes.
It was a part of the money she had paid for silence, and now it had
come back. Hettie's honesty and nobleness of soul touched her deeply.
With the crying needs of a large family how many a woman would have
kept and used the money? What a temptation! Mechanically she counted
the bills--seventy-five dollars. Gabe Grimsby must have been very
drunk when he overlooked such a sum. How great would be his anger when
he found that the money was not in the house upon his return from the
city.

Replacing the roll in the drawer, Mrs. Hampton attended to some
household duties. Then she went out upon the verandah to await the
young people's return. She was glad to lean back in the chair and
rest, for she was tired. The sun had gone down beyond the distant
hills, and the long twilight was slowly waning. It was a beautiful
evening, and the gentle breeze of the afternoon had sunk to rest with
the sun. The smooth surface of the river caught and reflected the
glory of departing day, while the trees along the shore stood clearly
silhouetted against the silent river. There was peace upon water and
land, broken only by the sweet song of a vesper sparrow, and the
tingling of a bell from a distant pasture.

But to the woman sitting alone upon the verandah there was no peace.
Her heart and mind were in a tumult of conflicting emotion. She was
thinking of the girl who had come so unexpectedly into her life and
home. The silence and restraint of long years had at last reached
their climax. A mother's passionate love possessed her soul, and an
intense affection for the child of her womb swept like an overmastering
current through her very being. The girl was hers, she must keep her,
and she was determined that no power on earth should take her from her.

She was suddenly aroused from her reverie by the