she flung herself into a chair, and
laid her loaded revolver upon the table.

"Tell me about it. Just the plain facts," she said, and waited.

Bill started up from his place in the rocker, but Kate signed him to
be silent.

"Helen can tell me," she said coldly.

Helen, leaning against the table, glanced across at Bill. Her sister's
attitude troubled her. She felt the resentment underlying it. She was
at a loss to understand it. After a moment's hesitation she began to
explain. Nor could she quite keep the sharp edge of feeling out of her
tone.

"It was my fault," she began. "At least, I s'pose it was. I s'pose I
was doing a fool thing interfering, but I didn't just think you'd
mind, seeing you'd ordered him to do work he hadn't done. You see, he
hadn't touched those potatoes you'd told him to dig. He's been
drinking instead."

Suddenly her sense of humor got the better of her resentful feelings,
and she began to laugh.

"Well, I had to go and be severe with him. I tried to bully him, and
stamped my foot at him, and--and called him a drunken brute. I took a
chance. Being drunk, he might have proposed to me. Well, he didn't
this time. It was far worse. He told me to go--to hell, first of all.
But, as I didn't show signs of obeying him, he got sort of funny and
tried to kiss me."

"The swine!" muttered Bill, but was silenced by a look from Helen's
humorous eyes.

"That's what I thought--first," she said. Then, her eyes widening:
"But he meant doing it, and I got scared to death. Oh, dear, I was
frightened. Being a coward, I shouted for help. And Bill responded
like--like a great angry steer. Then I got worse scared, for, directly
Pete saw Bill coming, he pulled a gun, and there surely was murder in
his eye."

She breathed a deep sigh, and her eyes had changed their expression to
one of delight and pride.

"But he hadn't a dog's chance of putting Bill's lights out. He hadn't,
true. Say, Kate, Bill was just like--like a whirlwind. Same as Charlie
said. He was so quick I hardly know how it happened. Bill dropped Pete
like a--a sack of wheat. He--he was on him like a tiger. Then I was
just worse scared than ever, and--and began to cry."

The girl's mouth drooped, but her eyes were laughing. Then, as Kate
still remained quiet, she inquired:

"Wasn't I a fool?"

Kate suddenly looked up from the brown study into which she had
fallen. Her big eyes looked straight across at Bill, and she ignored
Helen's final r