"Anyway, we can't do anything; get in bed and let me cover you up; you
are damp to the skin and all of a quiver; you'll catch your death
sitting here."

Mrs. Floyd put her hand round Harriet, but she sprang up and pulled
down a heavy cloak from a hook on the wall.

"I did not come here to go to bed!" she cried. She put the garment on
and strode past her mother to the window. Mrs. Floyd followed her
movements with an anxious glance. At the window Harriet turned and
stamped her foot. "Do you think I'm going to bed when I don't
know--oh, my God, I can't bear it! I can't bear it!" She suddenly
approached her bewildered mother, put her hands on her shoulders, and
turned her face to the light. "You hear me, mother? As God in Heaven
is my witness, if a hair of that man's head is harmed to-night, I'll
kill Toot Wambush on sight. I'll kill him, if I hang for it! I swear
it before God! Do you hear? I swear it--no power on earth shall stop
me! I'll _do_ it!"

Her body swayed. She made a step towards the door and sank down in a
swoon. Mrs. Floyd sprang for a pitcher of water and sprinkled her
face. The girl revived a little, and her mother raised her in her
arms, put her on the bed, and drew the covers over her. Harriet closed
her eyes drowsily. She did not seem wholly conscious. Mrs. Floyd went
down-stairs and lighted a fire in the kitchen stove, and put on some
water to heat. Then she went to the cook's room off the back porch and
shook the door.

"Get up quick, Em', Harriet is sick!" she cried; then she ran up to her
own room, opposite Harriet's, and finished dressing herself. As she
was crossing the hall she saw a man on horseback in the street. She
went out on the veranda and called to him. At first she did not
recognize him, but when he came nearer she saw that it was Washburn.

"Are you going to help Mr. Westerfelt?" she asked, in a low tone, as
she leaned over the railing.

"I've done all that kin be done," he said. "I've been round among the
citizens. They all say we'd be fools to try to do anything, Mrs.
Floyd. Some are skeerd to death, an' others pretend they don't think
Mr. Westerfelt's in danger."

She did not answer, fearing her voice would rouse Harriet, and after he
had ridden away, she went back to the girl's room. Harriet was asleep,
so she left her. A few hours later the barkeeper's wife came into the
kitchen and told Mrs. Floyd the latest news. She dropped the pan she
was c