Molly's face came plainly within Jinnie's view. At his question the woman went paler. Then the man leaned over and tried to take one of her hands. But she drew it away again and locked her fingers together in her lap. "Aren't you glad to see me back again?" he repeated. Molly's startled eyes came upward to his face. "I don't know--I can't tell--I'm so surprised and----" "And glad," laughed the stranger in a deep, mesmeric voice. "Glad to have your husband back once more, eh?" Virginia's start was followed quickly by an imploration from Molly. "Hush, hush, please don't speak of it!" "I certainly shall speak of it; I certainly shall. I came here for no other reason than that. And who would speak of it if I didn't?" Molly shivered. There was something about the man's low, modulated tones that repelled Virginia. She tried in vain to see his face. She was sure that nowhere in the hills was there such a man. "You've been gone so long I thought you'd forgotten or--or were dead," breathed Molly, covering her face with her hands. "Not forgotten, but I wasn't able to get back." "You could have written me." The man shrugged himself impatiently. "But I didn't. Don't rake up old things; please don't. Molly, look at me." Molly uncovered a pair of unwilling eyes and centered them upon his face. "What makes you act so? Are you afraid?" "I did not expect you back, that's all." "That's not it! Tell me what's on your mind.... Tell me." Molly's white lids fell, her fingers clenched and unclenched. "I didn't--I couldn't write," she whispered, "about the baby." "Baby!" The word burst out like a bomb. The man stood up. "Baby!" he repeated. "You mean my--our baby?" Molly swallowed and nodded. "A little boy," she said, in a low voice. "Where is he?" demanded the man. "Please, please don't ask me, I beg of you. I want to forget----" "But you can't forget you're married, that you've been the mother of a child and--and--that I'm its father." Molly's tears began to flow. Virginia had never seen a woman cry before in all her young life. It was a most distressing sight. Something within her leaped up and thundered at her brain. It ordered her to venture out and aid the pretty woman if she could. Jinnie was not an eavesdropper! She did not wish to hear any more. But fear kept her crouched in her awkward position. "I just want to forget if I can," Molly sobbed. "I don't know where the baby is. That's why I want to forget. I can't find him." "Can't find him? What do you mean by 'can't find him'?" Molly faced about squarely, suddenly. "I've asked you not to talk about it. I've been terribly unhappy and so miserable.... It's only lately I've begun to be at all reconciled." "Nevertheless, I _will_ hear," snapped the man angrily. "I _will_ hear! Begin back from the letter you wrote me." "Asking you to help me?" questioned the girl.