boy--my
own--they died for it! _Mein Mann! Mein Suehn!_"

On her knees, frantic to press her down once more into the chair,
terrified at the rigid immobility of the upright figure, Mrs. Coblenz
paused then, too, her clasp falling away, and leaned forward to the open
sheet of the newspaper, its black headlines facing her:

RUSSIA FREE

BANS DOWN
100,000 SIBERIAN PRISONERS LIBERATED

In her ears a ringing silence, as if a great steel disk had clattered
down into the depths of her consciousness. There on her knees, trembling
seized her, and she hugged herself against it, leaning forward to
corroborate her gaze.

MOST RIGID AUTOCRACY IN THE WORLD
OVERTHROWN

RUSSIA REJOICES

"Mamma! Mamma! My God, Mamma!"

"Home, Shila; home! My husband who died for it--Aylorff! Home now,
quick! My wreaths! My wreaths!"

"O my God, Mamma!"

"Home!"

"Yes--darling--yes--"

"My wreaths!"

"Yes, yes, darling; your wreaths. Let--let me think. Freedom!--O my God,
help me to find a way! O my God!"

"My wreaths!"

"Here--darling--here!"

From the floor beside her, the raffia wreath half in the making, Mrs.
Coblenz reached up, pressing it flat to the heaving old bosom.

"There, darling, there!"

"I paid with my blood--"

"Yes, yes, mamma; you--paid with your blood. Mamma--sit, please. Sit
and--let's try to think. Take it slow, darling--it's like we can't take
it in all at once. I--we--sit down, darling. You'll make yourself
terrible sick. Sit down, darling, you--you're slipping."

"My wreaths--"

Heavily, the arm at the waist gently sustaining, Mrs. Horowitz sank
rather softly down, her eyelids fluttering for the moment. A smile had
come out on her face, and, as her head sank back against the rest, the
eyes resting at the downward flutter, she gave out a long breath, not
taking it in again.

"Mamma! You're fainting!" She leaned to her, shaking the relaxed figure
by the elbows, her face almost touching the tallowlike one with the
smile lying so deeply into it. "Mamma! My God, darling, wake up! I'll
take you back. I'll find a way to take you. I'm a bad girl, darling, but
I'll find a way to take you. I'll take you if--if I kill for it. I
promise before God I'll take you. To-morrow--now--nobody can keep me
from taking you. The wreaths, mamma! Get ready the wreaths! Mamma,
darling, wake up. Get ready the wreaths! The wreaths!" Shaking at that
quiet form, sobs that were full of voice, tearing raw from her throat,
she f