e better git out and mind yer own business or ye'll wish ye had,"
threatened the man, his first feeling of fear vanishing. "Yer nothin'
but a lot o' silly girls. You git along," he ordered, fixing his
scowling eyes on Mary.

"This little girl is going to stay with us. It is you that had better
move on. If you aren't out of sight within the next three minutes I'll
have you arrested for annoying us, and it won't be wise for you to come
back again either."

Kathleen's face, as she stood calmly eyeing her disagreeable adversary,
was like a study in stone. She looked as inexorable and relentless as
Fate itself, and the bully understood dimly that here was a force with
which he could not reckon.

"I'm a goin'," he mumbled sullenly, "but I'm a goin' to git the law on
_her_," he pointed to Mary, "and make her git back where she belongs."

By this time several persons had hurried to the scene of the encounter.
Kathleen's sole reply to the threat was a contemptuous shrug of her
shoulders. "Come on, girls," she said so nonchalantly that the curious
ones dropped disappointedly away. Not more than four minutes had elapsed
from the time the uncouth stranger had appeared until he slunk off.
Emma, Grace and Patience found their voices almost simultaneously.

"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Emma.

"I was literally amazed to dumbness," declared Patience.

"So was I for a minute, but Kathleen was so completely sure of herself
that I knew it was better to be silent. She disposed of that
obstreperous individual most summarily. Who is he, Miss Reynolds?" Grace
turned grave eyes upon Mary. "We shall have to know all about him if we
are to help you."

They were now walking slowly up the street.

"He's--my--uncle," faltered the girl. "Mother died last summer just
after I finished high school, and I had no place to go. He wanted me to
go out in the country and live on his farm. He said I could go to
college, but after I went to the farm he and his wife made me do all the
work, and laughed when I spoke of going to college. A nice girl I knew
had told me about Overton and Harlowe House. She was in the town of
Overton last commencement and heard about it. I told them I would go in
spite of them, so they locked me in my room, but I climbed out the
window and into a big tree, one of its branches was quite near the
window, and then slid to the ground."

"How old are you, Miss Reynolds?" asked Kathleen West with apparent
irrelevance.

"I