face, and raised a pair of agonized eyes to his.

"Leave me," she cried. "Go, please go. I--I can't bear it."

Her appeal was so helpless. Again the impulse to take her in his arms
was almost too strong for the man, but with an effort he overcame it.

"Won't you--go on?" he said, in the gentlest possible tone. "It will
help you. And--you would rather tell me."

The firmness of his manner, the gentleness, had a heartbreaking
effect. In a moment the woman's eyes were flooded with tears, which
coursed down her cheeks. It was the relief that her poor troubled
brain and nerves demanded, and so Fyles understood.

He waited patiently until the passion of weeping was over. Then again
he urged his demand.

"Now tell me, Kate. Tell me all. And remember I'm not here as your
judge. I am here to help--because--I love you."

The look from the woman's eyes thanked him. Then she bowed her head
lest the sight of him should leave her afraid.

* * * * *

"Must I tell it all?"

Kate's tone was firmer. There was a ring in it that reminded the other
of the woman he used to know.

"Tell me just what you wish. No more--no less. You are telling it for
your own sake, remember. To me--it makes no difference."

"There's no use in telling it you from the start. The things that led
up to it," she began. "I have been smuggling whisky for nearly five
years. It's a pretty admission, isn't it? Yes, you may well be
horrified," she went on, as Fyles started.

But the man denied.

"I am not horrified," he said. "It is--the wonder of it."

"The wonder? It isn't wonderful. It was so simple. A little ingenuity,
a little nerve and recklessness. The law itself makes it easy. You
cannot arrest on suspicion." Kate sighed, and her eyes had become
reflective, so that their calmness satisfied the waiting man. "I must
tell you this," she went on quickly. "My reasons were twofold. Helen
and I came here to farm. We came here because I was crazy for
adventure. We had money, but I soon found that we, two women, could
never make our farm pay. We were here surrounded by outlaws, who were
already smuggling liquor, and their trade appealed to me. I was just
crazy to take a hand in it for the excitement of it, and--to replenish
our diminishing capital."

"Helen knows nothing about it," she went on, her voice hardening as
though the shameful story she was about to tell were forcing the iron
deeper and deeper into her soul. "Sh