"I might as well get it over first as last," ventured Burnett. "But I'm more'n anxious you shouldn't be mad at me. The fact is we've traced a man down from Auburn--" Tessibel interrupted him, startled; at least she acted so. "From Auburn!" she gasped. "Yes, ma'am, a murderer! Andy Bishop. Little man like this," the warden explained, measuring a short space from the floor. "By some means or other he wriggled his way out of prison--" Tessibel's lips trembled and she turned her eyes away. Old memories rushed over her, memories of the cold winter when she'd been alone in the shack. "An' ye thought 'cause Daddy'd been up there once, the man must a run right straight here, huh?" she accused, with a sob in her voice. "Well, I'll admit till I saw you I thought--I thought, but now--," a negative gesture with his hand finished his answer. Tessibel turned withering, tear-wet eyes on her visitor. "I 'spose ye air thinkin' my Daddy even had something to do with his flyin' the coop?" she flared up. "Air that it?" "No! No! I didn't think that at all," the under-warden made haste to deny. "I just couldn't think that about _your_ father." Tessibel dimpled, suddenly glowing like a vivid poppy. "Thank ye," she whispered, wiping away the tears. "Why! My Daddy wouldn't do nothin' bad for anythin' in the world. He's the best old Daddy livin'." "Of course he is," vouched the warden, placatingly, "but what I want to know is would you mind, or would it hurt your feelings--The fact is, I came to search this house." Tess had expected this, and without demurring, flashed forth, "Ye mean ye want to go 'round it, don't ye, lookin' in all the corners an' places; air that it, sir?" Burnett acknowledged this by a nod. "Sure, search it if ye want to, I don't mind. Ye'll 'scuse me not gettin' up, won't ye? There ain't much to search, but ye can go in the garret if ye want to. It air only a cubby hole; even the weest man in the hull world couldn't stand up in it." Andy stirred perceptibly beneath her. "Then there air Daddy's room," Tess continued, "an' this room air the kitchen an' the dinin' room an' the parlor, an' all the other rooms.... An'--an' it air my room, too." "My God, but you're a cute kid!" he chuckled. Tessibel's laugh rang out deliciously fresh and free, and Burnett caught it up and sent it back in one loud guffaw. Then the girl lifted one of her curls and spread it out to its extreme length. Tess had been born possessing all the arts of her sex, and used them effectively, upon an occasion like this.