tered, forgetting that his last
dollar was a thing of the past, "that this young feller will find out
about those inventions. Inventions be damned! That's what I say.
There's something going on at the mines that don't spell inventions."

This was said to Peneluna who was aging under the strain of
unaccustomed excitement.

"When he lands Maclin," she said savagely, "I'll grab Larry. Larry is
a fool, but from way back, Maclin is the sinner. Queer"--she gave a
deep sigh--"how a stick muddling up a biling brings the scum to the
surface! I declare! I wish we had something to grip hold of.
Suspicioning your neighbours ain't healthy."

Jan-an, untroubled by moral codes, was unconditionally on Northrup's
side. She patched her gleanings into a vivid conclusion and announced,
much to Peneluna's horror:

"Supposin' we are goin' ter hell 'long of not knowin' where we are
goin', ain't it a lot pleasanter than the way we was traipsin' before
things began to happen?"

Poor Jan-an was getting her first taste of romance and tragedy and she
was thriving on the excitement. When she was not watching the romance
in the woods with Mary-Clare and Noreen, she was actively engaged in
tragedy. She was searching for the lost letters and she did not mince
matters in her own thoughts.

"Larry stole 'em!" she had concluded from the first. "What's old
letters, anyway? But I'll get those letters if I die for it!"

She shamelessly ransacked Larry's possessions while she cleaned his
disorderly shack, but no letters did she find. She became irritable
and unmoral.

"Lordy!" she confided to Peneluna one day while they were preparing
Larry's food, "don't yer wish, Peneluna, that it wasn't evil to poison
some folks' grub?"

Peneluna paused and looked at the girl with startled eyes.

"If you talk like that," she replied, "I'll hustle you into the
almshouse." Then: "Who would you like to do that to?" she asked.

"Oh! folks as just clutter up life for decent folks. Maclin and
Larry."

"Now, see here, Jan-an, that kind of talk is downright creepy and
terrible wicked. Listen to me. Are you listening?"

Jan-an nodded sullenly.

"I'm your best friend, child. I mean to stand by yer, so you just
heed. There are folks as can use language like that and others will
laugh it off, but you can't do it. The best thing for you to do is to
slip along out of sight and sound as much as yer can. If you attract
attention--the Lord above knows what will happen;