There was a dull misery in the answer that went to her heart. "I dunno. I couldn't--never fin' out." "_You don't know?_" "Mr. Bas done sent him away--when you was comin'. He was real kin'--to him before, though he wa'n't never one--to have po'ly folks about, much. But when you--was comin'--he done sent him away, an' he wouldn't never tell me--whar to." "Mahaly! _Why_ did he send him away?" Kate had risen, in her horror of what she knew was coming. "Bekase he looked--too much--like his--paw," said Mahaly, and she spoke with pride.... Kate put her hands over her eyes. She remembered the sense of something sinister that had come to her when she first saw Storm; recalled the mystery which had hung about the mulatto girl, and which she had not quite dared to probe; the innuendoes of old Liza, from the first her ally and henchman; Mahaly's later passionate and hungry devotion to her own children. She remembered the fate, too, of Basil's hound Juno, and her mongrel pups. "No wonder you hated me," she whispered, shuddering. "No wonder you hated me! To think that even he could have done such a thing!--Oh, but, Mahaly, how was I to know? How could you have blamed me?" "I never. Only I 'lowed--that ef you was to git sent away--fum Sto'm--mebbe he would lemme have my baby--back agin." Mahaly's voice was getting very weak. She began fighting the air with her hands. Kate dipped her handkerchief quickly into a glass of water and laid it on the woman's face. "No more talking now," she said, and would have gone for help; but the negress caught at her hand. "Got--suthin' mo'--to say--fust--" she gasped painfully. "Miss Kate!--the French doctor didn't--kill him--" "_What?_" "I seed. I was--hidin' in de bushes--waitin' to speak to Mr. Bas" (only an iron effort of will made the words audible), "an' I riz up--out'n de bushes--when I yeard 'em quar'lin'--and dat skeert de hoss--an' he ra'red up and threw--Mr. Bas off. De French doctor done flung--a rock, yes'm--but it ain't--never--teched him--" "You know this? My God, Mahaly! You _know_ this?" "Yais'm, kase--it was me--de rock hit--" she turned her cheek, to show the scar it had left. "Take that down in writing. Mother!" commanded a tense voice from the window, where Jemima was leaning in. "You must get it down in writing, before witnesses! Here!" She jumped into the room, and opened the door, calling, "Some of you come here, quick! I want witnesses." "She's dying," muttered Kate, dazed. "No, she isn't! She sha'n't, before she says that again. Leave her to me! Now then, Mahaly"--she shook the gasping woman none too gently. "Come, come! You saw--Speak up! Oh, for God's sake, speak up!" But Mahaly had said all that she had to say. For a terrible moment the sound of her losing battle filled the room. Then, of a sudden there was silence, peace; into which broke presently the mournful, savage note of negro wailing.