“Maybe! maybe!” she snorted. “I’m about sick of maybe’s! You’ve been maybe-ing all your life. I just bet before you were born somebody said, ‘Maybe it’ll be a boy,’ an’ that’s just what you are--a kind of a maybe man.” She ended with a burst of laughter, pleased by her own wit. He made no retort, but Julie, who was standing close beside him now, saw him wince, saw his lips twitch, and his hands tighten spasmodically on the suit-case. For a moment he looked wildly about like a trapped animal seeking escape. As he did so his eyes came full upon Julie’s face. There was such a look of desperation, of trapped and impotent despair in them, that a surge of rage leaped within, sweeping her beyond all the small proprieties, so that she found herself whispering breathlessly behind the woman’s back, “Oh, don’t mind, don’t mind so! I understand--I understand!” He stared at her a startled, incredulous moment, the color coming up in his face in flood after flood. The train jerked to a standstill. They were flung together unsteadily for an instant, and then descended the steps. Julie did not linger. She did not look again at the little man, but stepping past him and his companion, walked quickly along the station platform. Her arms were full of bundles, but she was hardly conscious of them, nor of her feet moving over the boards; the gust of her rage blew her along with a sense of speed and lightness, almost as though she were flying. It was glorious. It lifted her above herself. It set her free. At that moment she was released from all the small constrictions of her life, she was beyond fear of anything, or of any person. Walking thus down the platform she encountered Edward Black. He blocked her way with his great hectoring swagger. “Oh, I know somep’n, I know somep’n,” he sang. Julie stopped. She was so angry that her eyes glittered, and a flame seemed to dart out of her white face. “What do you know?” she demanded. Edward was surprised and disconcerted. This was not the frightened response he expected from his victim. “Oh, well, never mind,” he muttered, and started to turn away, but Julie stepped quickly after him. “What do you know?” she repeated furiously. Again he backed away a step or two. It seemed to him that this enraged little woman might fly at his throat. “Aw, I was just foolin’, Julie,” he said weakly. “You saw me sitting out on the church steps last night,” Julie stated clearly and concisely. “Now, what of it?” “Nothing, Julie, nothing,” he repeated, still retreating sheepishly before her, and uneasily aware that they were attracting attention from the small group of station loafers. But Julie was swept above herself. What people thought, or what they said was a thing beneath her feet now. She did not even hear one of the loafers call out, “That’s right. Miss Julie! Don’t take any foolishness off’n Ed! You got him on the run now. Keep it up!”