n' I want two or three other men in
this room to listen; if this don't stop, ye'll all be behint bars where
ye belong.--I mean you, too, Mr. Dempsey. As for you, Dan McGaw, if it
warn't for yer wife Kate, who's a dacent woman, ye'd go to-day. Now, one
thing more, an' I'll let ye go. I've bought yer chattel mortgage of Mr.
Crane that's past due, an' I can do wid it as I pl'ase. You'll send
to me in the mornin' two of yer horses to take the places of those ye
burned up, an' if they're not in my stable by siven o'clock I'll be
round yer way 'bout nine with the sheriff."

Once outside in the sunlight, she became herself again. The outburst
had cleared her soul like a thunder-clap. She felt as free as air. The
secret that had weighed her down for years was off her mind. What
she had whispered to her own heart she could now proclaim from the
housetops. Even the law protected her.

Babcock walked beside her, silent and grave. She seemed to him like some
Joan with flaming sword.

When they reached the road that led to her own house, her eyes fell
upon Jennie and Carl. They had walked down behind them, and were waiting
under the trees.

"There's one thing more ye can do for me, my friend," she said, turning
to Babcock. "All the old things Tom an' I did togither I can do by
meself; but it's new things like Carl an' Jennie that trouble me--the
new things I can't ask him about. Do ye see them two yonder! Am I free
to do for 'em as I would? No; ye needn't answer. I see it in yer face.
Come here, child; I want ye. Give me yer hand."

For an instant she stood looking into their faces, her eyes brimming.
Then she took Jennie's hand, slipped it into Carl's, and laying her big,
strong palm over the two, said slowly:

"Now go home, both o' ye, to the house that'll shelter ye, pl'ase God,
as long as ye live."

*****

Before the highway-work was finished, McGaw was dead and Billy and
Crimmins in Sing Sing. The label on the empty can, Quigg's volunteered
testimony, and Judge Bowker's charge, convinced the jury. Quigg had
quarreled with Crimmins and the committee, and took that way of getting
even.

When Tom heard the news, she left her teams standing in the road and
went straight to McGaw's house. His widow sat on a broken chair in an
almost empty room.

"Don't cry, Katy," said Tom, bending over her. "I'm sorry for Billy.
Seems to me, ye've had a lot o' trouble since Dan was drowned. It was
not all Billy's fault. It was Crimmin