girl flashed a smile of real merriment at her, which almost cost Dr.
Harpe her self-control. The young and now glowing beauty of the girl
before her, the unconscious air of superiority and confidence which had
its wellspring in some mysterious source was maddening to her. The
interview was taxing her self-control to the limit and she felt that in
some inexplicable way the tables were turning.

"You--won't go, then?" Her voice held a menace.

"Why should I, since I am innocent? Take a vacation yourself, Dr. Harpe,
with the money you so generously offer me. You need it."

She followed the girl's dancing eyes to the mirror opposite which was
tilted so that it reflected the whole of her uncouth pose. Slid far down
in the chair with her heels resting on the floor and wrinkling hose
exposed above her boottops, a knot of dull, red hair slipped to one side
with shorter ends hanging in dishevelment about her face, she
looked--the thought was her own--like a drab of the streets in the
magistrate's court in the morning. She was startled, shocked by her own
appearance. Was she, Emma Harpe, as old, as haggard, as evil-looking as
that!

She had clung with peculiar tenacity to the hallucination that she still
had youthful charm of face and figure. As she stared, it seemed as
though the sand was sliding a little faster from beneath her feet. She
shoved the loose knot of hair to its place and straightened herself,
growing hot at the realization that she had betrayed to Essie Tisdale
something of her consternation.

She turned upon her fiercely--

"Look here, Ess, if you want to be friends with me, and have my
influence to get you out of this mess, you'd better change your
tactics."

"Haven't I yet made it clear to you that I care no more for your
friendship than for your enmity? Do you imagine that you can frighten
liking, or force respect after the occasion which we both remember?"

"There's one thing I can do--I can make Crowheart too hot to hold you!"
Her grip on herself was going fast.

Essie Tisdale stood up and, folding her arms, drew herself to her slim
height while she looked at her in contemptuous silence.

"I know there is no low thing to which you would not stoop to make good
your boast. You make me think of a viper that has exhausted its venom.
You have the disposition to strike, but you no longer have the power."

"You think not? And why? Do you imagine that your position in Crowheart
will be changed one iota