the
rain-soaked, barefooted girl. She could not distinguish one ray of
light at first in any of the windows.... Suddenly she stopped and took a
long breath. Up near the roof line a faint light flickered ... some one
was moving to and fro. Tessibel could distinguish a rounded shadow on
the ceiling of the cell, and tears choked her, as she saw cast upon the
wall the shadowy outline of a large humpbacked form. It was Daddy--Daddy
Skinner, and Tessibel backed from the building, straining her eyes to
get a better view of him. Now the image was in sight, again it
disappeared--Daddy was walking up and down, but he did not come near
enough to the window for her to see his face.

Seven times she counted Daddy's rounded shadow on the wall, and seven
times it faded. The eighth--a grizzled head cast its outline distinctly
across the bars.

"Daddy--aw--Daddy Skinner."

It was only a loving name breathed by a troubled child, but it was
caught in its upward flight by the father's ear above. Tess saw the
pictured humps pause, and as she whispered the name again, Daddy Skinner
came to the iron lattice. She could discern her father plainly through
the rain and held her arms up toward him.

"It air lonely in the shanty, in the ... shanty ... without ye, Daddy,"
she breathed, "and Tessibel ... air sorry ... for all her badness. Come
home, Daddy ... dear, good Daddy ... and Tess--"

She stopped, for a sight strange and unusual fell upon her. Daddy
Skinner was looking down, clinging to the bars mightily, his under lip
shaking, his dark teeth chattering together--the grizzled head making a
sharp picture of misery in the barred window. Emotion in her father was
new to Tess. A little frightened cry fell from her lips and she clutched
hurriedly at the thick creeping ivy which clung to the old gray stone
building.

"I air comin', Daddy Skinner," she cried. "I air comin'."

She followed the main body of the ivy on its upward growth, slipping and
sliding on the wet creeper as she made her perilous ascent. Daddy
Skinner was near the roof and it took Tessibel many torturing minutes to
reach him. He knew she was coming by the continual dragging at the ivy,
but he dared not speak, for the guard walked outside his door in the
hall, and the sound of a voice would bring danger to Tess. Once he
strained his face to the bars--saw her climbing frantically, and the
sight made him dizzy. He could only wait--wait the interminable time
until the red-bro