quite natural. He had heard enough of the current talk about the
tenements and open lots to know that something of a revengeful and
retaliatory nature against the Grogans was in the air; but as nobody who
knew the exact details had confided them to him, he had determined upon
an investigation of his own. He not only hated Cully, but the whole
Grogan household, for the pounding he had received at his hands, so he
was anxious to get even in some way.

After McGaw had locked both doors, shutting out his wife and little
Jack, their youngest, he took a bottle from the shelf, filled two
half-tumblers, and squaring himself in his chair, said:--

"Did ye see her, Crimmy?"

"I did," replied Crimmins, swallowing the whiskey at a gulp.

"An' she'll come in wid us, will she?"

"She will, will she? She'll come in nothin'. I jollied her about her
flowers, and thought I had her dead ter rights, when she up an' asked me
what we was a-goin' to do for her if she jined, an' afore I could tell
her she opens the front door and gives me the dead cold."

"Fired ye?" exclaimed McGaw incredulously.

"I'm givin' it to ye straight, Dan; an' she pulled a gun on me,
too,"--telling the lie with perfect composure. "That woman's no slouch,
or I don't know 'em. One thing ye can bet yer bottom dollar on--all h---
can't scare her. We've got to try some other way."

It was the peculiarly fertile quality of Crimmins's imagination that
made him so valuable to some of his friends.

When the conspirators reached the door, neither Crimmins nor his father
was in a talkative mood, and Billy heard nothing. They lingered a moment
on the sill, within a foot of his head as he lay in a cramped position
below, and then they sauntered out, his father bareheaded, to the
stable-yard. There McGaw leaned upon a cart-wheel, listening dejectedly
to Crimmins, who seemed to be outlining a plan of some kind, which
at intervals lightened the gloom of McGaw's despair, judging from the
expression of his father's face. Then he turned hurriedly to the house,
cursed his wife because he could not find his big fur cap, and started
across to the village. Billy followed, keeping a safe distance behind.

Tom after Patsy's sad experience forbade him the streets, and never
allowed him out of her sight unless Cully or her father were with him.
She knew a storm was gathering, and she was watching the clouds and
waiting for the first patter of rain. When it came she intended that
ev