t, close-cropped hair and beard. He was
hesitating at the foot of the stairs, but at her slight movement he
caught sight of her and rushed toward her. "Has she--is there--" he
began.

Mrs. Mortimer gazed intently into his quivering face. "My sister has
given birth to a son, and lies at the point of death," she said with her
unsparing conciseness, but not harshly.

The man she addressed threw up one hand as though she had struck him,
and took an aimless, unsteady step. Mrs. Mortimer did not turn away her
eyes from the revelation of his face. Her own grew sterner. She was
trying to bring herself to speak again. She put her hand on his arm to
attract his attention, and looked with a fierce earnestness into his
face. "Listen," she said. "We were wrong, all of us, about Lydia. We
were wrong about everything. You were right. I wanted to tell you. If my
sister had lived--she is so young--I hoped--" She turned away to hide
the sudden break-up of her rigid calm. "Little Lydia!" she cried. "Oh,
misery! misery!"

Behind them was the sound of a shutting door and a key turned in the
lock. They both spun about and saw Mrs. Lowder slip the key into the
bosom of her dress. Her aspect of white determination suited this
theatrical gesture, as she placed herself quickly before the door. "If
you will promise me solemnly that you will leave the house at once, I
will let you out," she said, in a high, shaking voice.

Rankin did not answer. He looked at her as though he did not see her.

"What business have you here, anyhow?" she went on fiercely.

"I am here to adopt Mrs. Hollister's second child," stated Rankin,
collecting himself with an effort.

Mrs. Lowder's pale face flushed. "You'll do nothing of the sort. I shall
adopt my brother's child myself! How _dare_ you--a perfect stranger--"

"Mrs. Hollister wishes it," said Rankin.

"Lydia is out of her mind--if she is alive!" said Madeleine, trembling
excitedly, "and the child's own relatives are the proper--you needn't
think you are going to keep Ariadne, either! It can be proved in any
court that Lydia was crazy, and that her family are the ones that ought
to--"

"That will be decided in the future," said Rankin. "For the present I
have a legal right to Ariadne, and I shall have to the boy!"

"Do you mean you would dare to lay hands on a woman?" cried Madeleine,
extending her arms across the door.

Rankin turned, and in one stride had reached the window, which stood
open to