"Well, 'twas loike this, darlin'," explained Mrs. Malony, dropping her voice to a more confidential tone and nodding significantly toward a distant chimney. "'Twas siven o'clock the mornin' whin Oi seen smoke risin' from the shanty beyant. All day Oi've been moinded to be goin' acrost the p'int an' lookin' in at thot windy to see if 'twas thot big-eyed Frinch wan come back wid the spring." "You don't mean Rosa Marie's mother!" gasped Mabel. "Thot same," proceeded Mrs. Malony, calmly. "But what wid Malony white-washin' me kitchen, an' me pesky hins walkin' in me parlor and me cow breakin' down me fince, sure Oi've had no toime to be traipsin' about." "Couldn't you go now?" queried Jean, eagerly. "If it _is_ that woman we ought to know it." "Wait till Oi toi up me cow," consented Mrs. Malony. The four friends, with Mrs. Malony in tow, picked their way over the badly kept path that led to the shanty. "The door's been mended," announced observant Marjory. "It doesn't seem quite proper," said gentle-mannered Jean, "to peek into people's windows. Couldn't we knock and ask in a perfectly proper way to see the lady of the house?" "Sure we could thot," replied Mrs. Malony. "Do hurry!" urged Mabel, breathlessly. There was no response to Jean's rather nervous knock; but when Mrs. Malony applied her stout knuckles to the door there were results. The door was opened cautiously, just a tiny crack at first, then to its full extent. A dark-eyed woman with two thick braids falling over her shapely shoulders confronted them. She swept a mildly curious glance over Mrs. Malony, over Jean, over Marjory, over Henrietta. Then her splendid eyes fell upon Mabel; they changed instantaneously. In a twinkling the woman had brushed past the others to seize startled Mabel by both shoulders and to gaze piercingly into Mabel's frightened eyes. The woman tried to speak; but, for a long moment, her voice would not come. "You--you!" she gasped, clutching Mabel still more tightly, as if she feared that the youngster might escape. "Ees eet you for sure? But w'ere, w'ere----?" No further words would come. The poor creature's evident emotion was pitiful to see, and the girls were too overwhelmed to do more than stare with all their might. "Rosa Marie's all right," gulped Mabel, coming to the rescue with exactly the right words. "She's safe and happy." "Ma babee, ma babee," moaned the woman, her long-lashed eyes beaming with wonderful tenderness, and expressive of intense longing. "Bring me to heem queek--ah, so queek as evaire you can. Ma babee--I want heem queek." Then, without stopping for outer garments or even to close her door, and still holding fast to the abductor of Rosa Marie, the woman hurriedly led the way from the clearing. Mrs. Malony would have remained with the party if she had not encountered her frolicsome cow, a section of fence-rail dangling from her neck, strolling off toward town.