"About Daddy?" asked Tess, "or about the other—"
The lawyer's nod, responsive to the latter half of her question, reawakened the suffering girl's memory of the horror of the church meeting.
"It were so awful," she said after a pregnant pause. "I mean—Mr. Waldstricker—"
"What about it? Tell me," Young interrupted, as the gentle voice hesitated.
"See ... this!" she murmured, turning her head.
Young's eyes caught the red of the wound on her neck.
"He did that!... How?" he ejaculated fiercely.
"He hit me with a piece of—coal!" answered Tess, sinking back, very white.
"No, no; God, no!" he cried desperately. "He couldn't have done that!"
"He said I were ... bad," interrupted Tess, very low. She bowed her head, and the man, stunned, made no move toward her. His muscles seemed powerless, and he had no volition to comfort her. He could not erase from his mind that horrid picture her few direct words had brought before him. "But ... you air trustin' me!" was the way Tess brought him back to himself.