nted him so all these years. Oh,
Tessibel!"

His pitiful pleading touched the listening girl. At last, face to face
with the man whose cowardice and selfishness had brought her so much
trouble, her one desire was to escape ... to run away. But he was
begging for her to be kind, to allow him to hold her baby!... What right
had he to kiss him?... To be sure, the child was his, too, but--but--

"Oh, No! No! I don't want you to!" she cried, protesting. "You can never
be anything in his life. Why don't you let us alone?"

Frederick had walked very close to her side by this time, his white face
twitching.

"I must kiss him once more," he persisted.

Tess turned to the loitering child. She could see that at a word of
assent from her, Boy would rush into the outstretched arms Frederick
held toward him. The mother, with a twist at her heart, recognized the
tie which drew together this man and her son. A dreadful fear clutched
her. Would Frederick do as he had threatened, hoping that he might thus
come in contact with his son? Her mind flew to Deforrest Young.... He
must never know the name of Boy's father. She could feel the blood
coursing madly through her temples, and her head ached dully.

Nevertheless, she went back and took hold of the child's hand.

"You may kiss the gentleman ... good-bye," she said in a constrained
voice.

"The pretty man was goin' to be my faver," said the child, pleadingly.
"I want a daddy awful bad."

"Yes, yes, I know," Tess returned tremulously. "Now hurry, dear, and
then run home."

Only too gladly did the child jump away and bound into his father's
extended arms.

"Mummy says I has to go home," he whispered.

While the tall man silently caressed the dark curls of her boy, Tess of
the Storm Country endured such pain as she'd never known before. The
mutual attraction between the two, so differently related to her, seemed
anomalous and impossible.

Frederick unwillingly allowed the child to slip to the rocks and after
Tess'd started Boy and the dog on their homeward way, she stood before
him, her lips quivering. She knew he, too, suffered, and she waited
quietly as he dried his eyes and recovered his choking breath.

She was sorry he'd come. She'd hoped never to see him again. But, now,
she must be assured that he would continue the deception in regard to
the past. As anxious as she had once been to have him claim her as his
own, to tell the world she belonged to him, she, now, want