y fibre of her being seemed to be
turned to steel. She was herself again--she, Tom Grogan!--firm on her
own feet, with her big arms ready to obey her, and her head as clear as
a bell, master of herself, master of her rights, master of everything
about her. And, above all, master of the dear name of her Tom that
nothing could take from her now--not even the law!

With this tightening of her will power there quivered through her a
sense of her own wrongs--the wrongs she had endured for years, the
wrongs that had so nearly wrecked her life.

Then, forgetting the office, the still solemnity of the place--even
Babcock--she walked straight up to McGaw, blocking his exit to the
street door.

"Dan McGaw, there's a word I've got for ye before ye l'ave this place,
an' I'm a-going to say it to ye now before ivery man in this room."

McGaw shrank back in alarm.

"You an' I have known each other since the time I nursed yer wife when
yer boy Jack was born, an' helped her through when she was near dyin'
from a kick ye give her. Ye began yer dirty work on me one night when
me Tom lay sick, an' I threw ye out o' me kitchen; an' since that time
ye've"--

"Here! I ain't a-goin' ter stand here an' listen ter yer. Git out o' me
way, or I'll"--

Tom stepped closer, her eyes flashing, every word ringing clear.

"Stand still, an' hear what I've got to say to ye, or I'll go into that
room and make a statement to the judge that'll put ye where ye
won't move for years. There was enough light for me to see. Look at
this"--drawing back her hood, and showing the bandaged scar.

McGaw seemed to shrivel up; the crowd stood still in amazement.

"I thought ye would. Now, I'll go on. Since that night in me kitchen ye
've tried to ruin me in ivery other way ye could. Ye've set these dead
beats Crimmins and Quigg on to me to coax away me men; ye've stirred up
the Union; ye burned me stable"--

"Ye lie! It's a tramp did it," snarled McGaw.

"Ye better keep still till I get through, Dan McGaw. I've got the can
that helt the ker'sene, an' I know where yer boy Billy bought it, an'
who set him up to it," she added, looking straight at Crimmins. "He
might'a' been a dacent boy but for him." Crimmins turned pale and bit
his lip.

The situation became intense. Even the judge, who had come out of his
private room at the attack, listened eagerly.

"Ye've been a sneak an' a coward to serve a woman so who never harmed
ye. Now I give ye fair warnin', a