stranger. In all the conversation the name
of the stranger was not mentioned, and oddly enough Priscilla did not
even then connect her friend of the music and laughter with the boy of
the Hill Place. How could she, when Jerry-Jo's description still stood
unchallenged in her mind? Indeed, the stranger did not seem wholly of the
earth, earthy. She had accepted him as another phase evolved by the
mysterious rite--a new revelation of the strange god.

From all the torrent of misinterpretation Nathaniel gave vent to, one
startling impression remained in Priscilla's mind. Sitting in the bare,
unlovely kitchen of the farmhouse, with her troubled parents confronting
her, a great wave of realization overpowered the girl. She could never
make them understand! There was no need to try. She did not really belong
to them, or they to her, and she must--get away!

That was it, of course. The lure had caught her. They all felt as she
was now feeling--the Hornbys, all the boys and men who left Kenmore.
Something always drove them to see they must go, and that was what the
lure meant.

Priscilla laughed.

As usual, this angered Nathaniel beyond control.

"You--laugh--you! Why do you laugh?"

Priscilla leaned back in her hard wooden chair.

"The lure's got me!" she panted.

"The--lure?"

"Yes. It means getting away. You have to follow the lure and find your
true place. Some people are put in the wrong place--then the lure gets
them!"

At this Theodora gave a moan of understanding. They had driven the child
too far, been too hard upon her, and the impulse to fly from the love
that was seeking to hold her was the one thing to be avoided.

"I'm tired of things. Once I wanted to go to school, but you wouldn't let
me." The blazing eyes were fixed upon Nathaniel. "You're always trying
to--to hold me back from--from--my life! I want to go away somewhere!
I want"--a half-sob shook the fierce, young voice--"I want to be part
of--things, and you--you won't let me! I hate this--this place; I'm
choking to death!"

And with this Priscilla got up and flung her arms over her head, while
she ejaculated fiercely: "I want to be--doshed!"

The effect of this outburst upon the two listeners was tremendous.
Theodora recognized with blinding terror that her daughter was no longer
a child! The knowledge was like a stroke that left her paralyzed. What
could she hope to do with, and for, this new, strange creature in whose
young face rising passi