s though with that
quietness he were doing something to offset the fatal blatancy with
which it had just spoken. He looked down at the lifeless figure with
burning eyes entirely devoid of pity, then went with a soundless tread,
in spite of his heavy-soled boots, to the bed and spoke softly to the
woman--who was his sister.

"Ye've got ter quit weepin' fer a spell, honey," he announced with a
tense authority which sought to recall her to herself. "I'm obleeged ter
take flight right speedily now, an' afore I goes thar's things ter be
studied out an' sottled betwixt us."

But the half-stifled moan that came from the feather bed was a voice of
collapse and chaos, to which speech was impossible.

So the brother lifted her in arms that remained unshaken and sat on the
edge of the bed looking into her eyes with an almost hypnotic
forcefulness.

"Ef ye don't hearken ter me now, I'm bound ter tarry till ye does," he
reminded her, "an' I'm in right tormentin' haste. Hit means life and
death ter me."

As if groping her tortured way back from pits of madness, the woman
strove to focus her senses, but her wild eyes encountered the dark and
crumpled mass on the floor and again a low shriek broke from her. She
turned her horrified face away and surrendered to a fresh paroxysm, but
at length she stammered between gasps that wrenched her tightened
throat:

"Kiver him up first, Ken. Kiver him up ... I kain't endure ter look at
him thetaway!"

Although the moments were pricelessly valuable, the man straightened the
contorted limbs of the dead body and covered it decently with a quilt.
Then he stood again by the bed.

"Ef I'd got hyar a minute sooner, Sally," he said, slowly, and there was
a trace of self-accusation in his voice, "hit moutn't hev happened. I
war jest a mite too tardy--but I knows ye hed ter kill him. I knows ye
acted in self-defence."

From the bed came again the half-insane response of hysterical moaning,
and the young mountaineer straightened his shoulders.

"His folks," he said in a level voice, "won't skeercely listen ter no
reason.... They'll be hell-bent on makin' somebody pay.... They'll plum
hev ter hang SOME person, an' hit kain't be _you_."

The woman only shuddered and twisted spasmodically as she lay there
while her brother went doggedly on:

"Hit kain't be _you_ ... with yore baby ter be borned, Sally. Hit's been
punishment enough fer ye ter endure him this long ... ter hev been
wedded with a