Jim McCann and
Maggie.--Oh, why did I come here!" she cried out wildly; "why did you
put me there in that house?--Why didn't Mr. Van Ostend let me alone
where I was--happy with the rest! Why," she demanded almost fiercely,
"why can't a child's life be her own to do with what she chooses? Why
has any human being a right to say to another, whether young or old,
'You shall live here and not there'? Oh, it is tyrannical--it is tyranny
of the worst kind, and what haven't I had to suffer from it all! It is
like Hell on earth!"

Her breath caught in great sobs that shook her; her eyes flashed through
blinding tears; her cheeks were crimson; she continued to clasp and
unclasp her hands.

The peculiar ivory tint of the strong pock-marked face opposite her took
on, during this outburst, a slightly livid hue. Every word she uttered
was a blow; for in it was voiced misery of mind, suffering and hardness
of heart, despair, ingratitude, undeserved reproach, anger, defiance and
the ignoring of all facts save those in the recollection of which she
had lost all poise, all control--And she was still so young! What was
behind these facts that occasioned such a tirade?

This was the priest's problem.

He waited a moment to regain his own control. The ingratitude, the
bitter injustice had shocked him out of it. Her mood seemed one of
defiance only. The woman before him was one he had never known in the
Aileen Armagh of the last fourteen years. He knew, moreover, that he
must not speak--dare not, as a sacred obligation to his office, until he
no longer felt the touch of anger he experienced upon hearing her
unrestrained outburst. It was but a moment before that touch was
removed; his heart softened towards her; filled suddenly with a pitying
love, for with his mind's eye he saw the small blood-stained
handkerchief in his hand, the initials A. A., the man on the cot from
whose arm he had taken it more than six years before. Six years! How she
must have suffered--and in silence!

"Aileen," he said at last and very gently, "whatever was done for you at
that time was done with the best intentions for your good. Believe me,
could Mr. Van Ostend and I have foreseen such resulting wretchedness as
this for our efforts, we should never have insisted on carrying out our
plan for you. But, like yourself, we are human--we could not foresee
this any more than you could. There is, however, one course always open
to you--"

"What?" she demanded; h