sorry for ye! I's sorry that I slicked the dirty dishrag in
yer face. Ye forgives me, don't ye, Ezy?"

"Yep." And Ezra stumbled away.

Tess watched him stagger along the shore through the rain, the shadows
of the weeping-willow trees at last swallowing him up.

She turned back into the hut, barred the door, and fed the child with
sweetened milk, forcing particles of bread into the yawning throat.
Teola had sent the student from her, never to return, yet she fed the
child tenderly, tucking it, with its sugar rag, in the warm blanket.

She snuffed the end from the candle, that it might burn brighter, took
the little Bible, and sat down to read.

"Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" she haltingly
spelled.

Her eyes sought the small outline of Dan Jordan's babe in the bed. She
hardly understood Paul's figurative words, but vaguely imagined that the
apostle was afflicted with something like the wizened child which had
been thrust upon herself.

Loud, impatient noises issued from the blanket. Tess rose, settled the
baby more comfortably, and sat down again. Her eyes sought another
verse.

"If ye have the faith of a grain of mustard-seed--"

The passage brought a vivid blush to her face. She rose silently, and
knelt by the window.

"Take this here body of my death," she prayed, "and give the poor brat
to the Christ! Make its ma tell the student, and give Tessibel faith
like a mustard-seed." Thus ended her prayer.

* * * * *

Ezra Longman, sick unto death, as he had said, floundered his way along
the wet path. The long walk through the storm from Ithaca had so
weakened him that he could hardly stand upright. He wanted to see his
mother once more, to be with Satisfied, and to warn Myra of the coming
evil. A conversation he had heard between the nurse and Professor Young
had decided him to go home if he could, for Ezra knew that his sister
loved the ugly fisherman who had tried to put him to death in the
Hoghole.

As he neared his cabin home, he saw the candle streaming its flickering
ray upon the path that led to the rocks. He saw his mother snuff the
flame and Satisfied take Myra's child up from the floor, but he did not
see his sister. As if in answer to this thought as to her whereabouts,
Myra appeared directly in front of him, carrying a pail of water from
the spring. She did not notice him until he pronounced her name in an
undertone. The pail dropped from her h