“Something about music lessons, she said. I didn’t like to ask her.” “Music lessons!” exclaimed Mrs. Willers, with a strong inflection of surprise. “Yes,” said Barron, uneasy at her tone and the strange look of almost agitated astonishment on her face; “and I’m under the impression he said something to her that frightened her. As I was coming up the steps that afternoon I heard distinctly some one call out in the drawing-room. I burst in on the full jump, for I was certain it was a woman’s voice, and that man came out of the drawing-room as I opened the door. He was smooth as a summer sea; said he hadn’t heard a sound, and went out smirking. Then I went into the drawing-room to see who had been in there and found Miss Moreau, leaning against the wall and white as my cuffs.” He looked frowningly at Mrs. Willers. She had listened without moving, her face rigidly attentive. “Mariposa didn’t tell you what they’d been talking about?” she asked. “No; she told me nothing. And when I asked her about the screams she said I’d been mistaken. But I hadn’t, Mrs. Willers. That man had scared her some way, and she’d screamed. She called for Benito and Mrs. Garcia. I heard her. And she’s looked pale and miserable ever since. What does that blackguard come to see her for, anyway? What’s he after?” “Her,” said Mrs. Willers, solemnly; “he wants to marry her.” “Wants to marry her! That foreign spider! Well, he’s got a gall. Humph!--” Words of sufficient scorn seemed to fail him. That he should be similarly aspiring did not at that moment strike him as reason for moderation in his censure of a rival. “And is he trying to scare her into marrying him? I wish I’d known that. I’d have broken his neck in the hall.” “Don’t you go round breaking people’s necks,” said Mrs. Willers, “but I’m glad you’re in that house. If Barry Essex is going to try to make her marry him by bullying and bulldozing her, I’m glad there’s a man there to keep him in his place. That’s no way to win a woman, Mr. Barron. I know, for that’s the way Willers courted me. Wouldn’t hear of my saying no; said he’d shoot himself. I knew even then he wouldn’t, but I didn’t know but what he’d try to wound himself somewhere where it didn’t hurt, leaving a letter for me that would be published in the morning paper. So I married him to get rid of him, and then I had to get the law in to get rid of him a second time. A man that badgers a woman into marrying him is no good. You can bank on that.” “Well,” said Barron, “I’m glad you’ve told me this. I’ll keep my eye on Mr. Essex. I was going to the mines next week, but guess I’ll put it off.” “Do. But don’t you let on to Mariposa what I’ve told you. She wouldn’t like it. She’s a proud girl. But I’ll tell you, Mr. Barron, she’s a good one, too; one of the best kind, and I love her nearly as much as my own girl. But look!” glancing at an adjacent clock with a start, “I must be traveling. This stuff’s got to go in at once.”