ing old woman.

THE sound of quick steps aroused her--she peered through the gathering
gloom--

A YOUNG man was coming nearer

THE woman rose slowly to her feet and waited rigidly

IT is you--you! she whispered hoarsely--

HER words went like shots at the slight figure, now perceptible

HE stopped abruptly and shuddered like one accused of crime.

I DO not know you, he managed to say. He had a flat thin voice.

YOU once lived in this house, the woman said menacingly.

HE shuddered again and stepped back

THE young man began to wonder. Could she be the sweet French woman that
the village children had loved--
that he, the eldest of the little group had in his boyish awakening been
romantic over--

THE gypsy sensed his admission of her charge.

SHE went on--Do you know who you are?

DO you know where you got your black hair?

HE lifted his hand unsteadily in the direction of his head.

THE old creature nodded and fixed him with her fierce eyes.

I AM not your mother

NEITHER was the woman you called by that name.

THE young man gasped.

HIS body grew tense.

HE remembered his adored mother whose grave he visited every Sunday
morning.

HE made an effort to think that this was only a gypsy--an impostor--

THE woman was speaking--

NEITHER your father nor mother ever knew that you were not their child.

THEIR little boy is dead

YOU filled his place.

HER voice sank almost to a breath.

I PLACED you in his cradle.

AN intolerable silence.

I LOVED your father

YOU never knew that he was a Portuguese nobleman.

DID you ever hear of Madeira, she asked sharply

IT was there that one by one all the passions of love--hatred--revenge
had torn my heart. He married and came to England--I followed--repulsed,
ignored.

MY only weapon against him--was to contrive--the death--of his little
son.

BUT to kill a child--

SHE caught a shuddering breath.

I COULD not--

I HID it securely.

ONCE again I visited Madeira. On the steps of the Church I stabbed my
enemy among the flowers in that land of beauty--a crime to darken its
perfection.

SO you belong to me--

YOU owe me much--

ALL that you can pay.

THE little sum of money he had in the Postal Savings rose into his
mind--and gave him amazing steadiness

HIS voice sounded loud and full in his own ears

YOU lie! he shouted suddenly.

YOU lie! you fiend! Come into the daylight.

HE was tearing his mind free from the influence