ng of An

the bowl of a pipe in which the ashes were dead. It took but one sharp glance from the red-brown eyes for Tess to note that his face was white, almost grey; she saw, too

r, ye're sick! Ye're sick, darlin'!... Tell m

est. His heart was beating a heavy t

?" she querie

r's crooked fingers fell upon the profusion o

there!" he mut

the wrinkled old countenance, Tes

e?... What do ye mean, Daddy?... I thought the docto

the appealing you

" said he, presently, "and I know ye'l

at set the tawny curls a-tremble,

but if ye've got a pain in y

brat. I jest-jest got to

him look just that way, not even when he had been taken from her to prison. The expression on his face was hopele

"I ain't needin' to tell ye again w

nd fascinated, sought an

out Auburn Prison?... Ye promised me, Daddy, ye'd forgit al

t formed in the spaces behind his ears and

mber 'em, chil

make a hustle an' tell me or, in a

threat, and a pair of red lips touched S

any of the fellers up there, Tessibel?" c

ed his arm

f 'em, an' how good they be, an' how

r. "Nobody air ever guilty who gets in jail.... Folks

ut it ain't no good reason fer you to be yappin' 'bout Auburn, air it?... N

haunted look, born in his eyes in the Ithaca Jail, had returned afte

d him strenuously. "Ye've got Tessibel, and ye've got-" She was

ingers over her father's heavy

it off to me now, a

hanty," said the fishe

, the father and daughter sat f

in Auburn Prison, an' ye said ye did, didn

patient twist o

ied. "'Course I do. I ain't never forg

sfied, ain't ye, brat, most

dy darlin',

were good to yer old father'd come

t of her head, Tessibe

in one short, quick breath. "

lways keep

hat a s

s face grew fu

r Andy, the little man I told ye about, the we

the fisherman w

ccused-of

in anxiety. "Andy were sent up there fer all his life, weren't he? An' weren't he the one Sandy Letts

ere there fer life! He air been there five years a

hopeless horror deepening in his old eyes. Then he

if he'd come here an' say, 'Kid, 'cause what I

The generosity of her loving nature instinctively responded to his

!" she exploded.

uble an'-an'-mebbe some of yer friends-if th

on lived a moment in the gi

it were wrong to help somebody w

y brows in a troubled

yer friends about it

round the girl

e yer arms 'round yer brat's neck, look 'er straight in the ey

feet protruding from under her bed. Clinging to Daddy Skinner, she watched, with widening lids, a dwarfed fi

broke over th

test tenor voice Tess ever heard. "Ye don't need to mak

this air my friend, Andy Bishop, an' he wer

upraised, appealing face. Then as a sudden sense of protection spurred her to immediate ac

she announced brokenly. "Ye was i

, kid.... An' I ain't abl

Tessibel. "Ye was lookin' in th

eyes at the squatter,

er, brat; that air the main thing an' Sandy

' his sister air been to Europe, but they come back early in the spring. I see 'em every Sunday at Hayt's when I go there to s

amented the dwarf, in despair. "Waldstrick

eflected Tess, soberly. "I

gesture of disg

t when he done it, but him an' Sandy socked it off on me. I got life an' Owen

t take life sentence by confessin' when by ke

ted Tess, thoughtfully. "Folks says he air good to the poor, to

r and summed up what he thought of

fer the chur

n't a hatefuller man in the Silent City 'n him. He makes a pile of money, though.... Once last fall he

alive," replied Andy, solemnly. "I wouldn't a gone up if 't

igh, Orn turned

f sight of folks.... Eb Waldstricker's five thousand bucks fer gettin' 'im

the top of his head to

ered disconsolately. "Ye won't let 'em

g mood by a reassuring smile and c

e promptly

old man. Any minute Sandy might be comin' in. Ye can't depend on

ingers through several red curls, while her eyes fo

in' wicked, ye poor litt

Waldstricker murder,

fix up the garret fer 'im. 'Tain't very big, but no one but me ever goes u

ain't 'fraid of nothin' nor nobody

ggled i

ll be company when ye're lonely nights. Deacon air the speckled one an' he loves every inch of Daddy an' me. If ye're g

eptibly, and two long lines ma

rom under the bed

ce on the hill, an' he learns me new things out of books every day....

r. That makes them two families kinda like one. Ye bet Young'd stand by his sister's man.... See?... Besides that, Y

nce, Daddy!" the

.. Till 'twere proved Ben Letts done the murder, I were kept in jail,

" came the dwarf

bel s

t till the man in Auburn coughs up, that air all, huh?... He can come down sometimes when it air a rainin' hard or dark nights when t

e wanted to chase that hunted look from his eyes, to ma

ke ye was goin' dead.... I tell ye nobody'll hurt the poor little feller

tts to peek through them before entering the door. Tessibel didn't wish to shut out the sunshine and moonbeams, but then there was Andy Bishop to think of, and Andy already had a warmer place in the s

The nuts that had been spread out on the floor to dry, now had to be gathered in sacks and stored in the mud cellar. The cobwebs must come down, and a cotton tick

im, "but ye'll get along all right, an' I air goin' to

ang with pride. "My ma, she's dead

hid less'n I let ye down, 'cause Sandy might catch onto yer bein' here. W

te theirs at the table, but the conversation of the father and daughter intermingled now and t

er, Tess went to the foot of

ll ye somethin', A

Sure, I ai

ed the girl mysteriously. "Mebbe when I get back I'll tel

o," agr

er father affectionatel

hile, an' you two be awful careful how

gone there was silence in the shack. The

fine young thing fer ye to b

le more than a whisper, expre

nce more they lapsed into the com