"

"Oh, I don't know! I have no idea!" returned Eileen at last brokenly.
"He--he--when I came--there was no one here.--I started in to sweep
up.--I was sweeping at the door when he came in suddenly--he
frightened me.--I must have swept some of the dust over him, for he
ran right into the broom.--He swore at me and started to jibber.--He
caught me by the arm.--He swore again.--I--I struggled free and ran
out--and--and he followed me--shouting he would--he would kill me."

Phil's brows wrinkled in perplexity, for he could not make the thing
out at all.

Ah Sing he knew for a peculiar individual and a wily one, with
considerable standing among the other Orientals in the neighbourhood,
but he had always heard of him as being meek and docile enough with
those for whom he worked and, like most Chinamen, had a wholesome
respect for the power of the white man's law. That he should suddenly
break out in this outrageous way, for no apparent cause, was beyond
Phil's comprehension.

Quietly and without speaking further, Phil and Eileen sat together,
then tears of relief came to Eileen. Her shuddering ceased. She gazed
up at Phil timidly and, as she gazed, she must have noticed the
anxiety and yearning in his eyes for she laid her head on his breast
and wept quietly. Phil did not try to stop her tears. He sat there,
smoothing her glossy brown hair with his big hand and talking
soothingly to her the while.

At last her sobbing spent itself and she slowly raised her head and
wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. Phil caught her face in both his
hands and gazed searchingly into it for a while. Helplessly, Eileen
braved his look and, when a faint trembling smile played about the
corners of her mouth, Phil drew her face close to his and his lips
touched hers.

Eileen blushed, and jumped up suddenly with a cry of alarm. She rushed
over to the stove and lifted up the lid of a pot, the contents of
which were bubbling over.

"Come on, boy!" she cried with a strange tone of possession in her
voice which set Phil's heart jumping, "help me get dinner out. Big,
lanky, fail-me-never Jim will be here pretty soon."

They had hardly put the finishing touches to the table, when Langford
ran in. He seemed to have sensed something wrong before he got inside,
for his face wore an anxious look.

"Merry Christmas, Eileen! Awfully glad you came out to see us.
Hullo!--what has been wrong? I saw you, and Phil, and Sing in a mix-up
and I hurried