you be so
cruel? You are a wicked, heartless woman!"

The woman paid no attention to Madge. She did not seem even to have heard
her, but lifted her big, coarse arm for another blow.

Madge's breath came in swift gasps. "Don't strike that child again," she
repeated. "I don't know who she is, nor what she has done, but she is too
little for you to beat her like that. I won't endure it," the little
captain ended in sudden passion.

The woman turned her cruel, bloodshot eyes slowly toward Madge. She was
one of the strongest and most brutal characters in the slums of New York,
and few dared to oppose her. She was even a terror to the policemen in
the neighborhood.

"Git out!" she said briefly.

Her arm descended. It did not strike the child. Quick as a flash, Madge
Morton had flung herself between the woman and the child. For a moment
the blow almost stunned the girl. The East Side crowd closed in on the
girl and the woman. If there was going to be a fight, the spectators did
not intend to miss it. Eleanor was numb with fear and sympathy. She did
not know whether to be more frightened for Madge than sorry for the
child.

The woman's face was mottled and crimson with anger. Madge's face was
very white. She held her head high and looked her enemy full in the
face.

"Git out of this and stop your interferin'!" shouted the virago. "This
here child belongs to me and I'll do what I like with her. If you are one
of them social settlers coming around into poor people's places and
meddlin' with their business, you'd better git back where you belong or
I'll social-settle you."

At this moment a thin, hot hand caught hold of Madge's and pulled it
gently. Madge gazed down into a little face, whose expression she never
forgot. It was whiter than it had been before. The scarlet color had gone
out of the cheeks and the big, black eyes burned brighter. But there was
not the slightest trace of fear in the look. Instead, the child's lips
were curved into an elf-like smile.

"Don't stay here, lady, please," she begged. "The ogress will be horrid
to you. She can't hurt me. You see, I am an enchanted Princess."

An instant later the child received a savage blow from the woman's hard
hand full in the face without shrinking. It was Madge who winced. Tears
rose to her eyes. She put her arms about the child and tried to shelter
her.

"Don't be calling me no names, Tania," the woman cried, dragging at the
child's thin skirts. "Jest you