"I—I was there. It was night. He—he kissed me—don't look like that! look away! your eyes hurt me!"
Marcia came closer and took the girl in her arms.
"Now, darling," she whispered, "close your eyes and I'll close mine—there are only you and I and—God here."
"He—he kissed me, Crothers did! Then he wanted me to do something—oh! I do not know what, but something he thought I could do—I felt it, and—and I threw the lamp at him. It was lighted and he went down in a heap and I—I ran right hard, but I went back and pulled him out when the fire started. I do not know why—for I want him out of the world. I shall be afraid always while he is in the world!"
"It's all right now, little Cyn, all, all right."
This only could the horrified woman repeat over and over, as she swayed to and fro with closed eyes and Cynthia on her breast.
Vividly she seemed to see the late scene. The helpless girl; the brutish man; the lonely night shutting them in and only a miracle to save. Details did not matter, and the miracle had come, but the after effects were here and now.
It was near noon before Marcia Lowe dared take Cynthia away from the shelter of the church, and when she did so she chose an hour when all but Greeley were absent from the store, and he was in the rear, eating his dinner.
"You must come to Trouble Neck, little Cyn," she said firmly; "you'll be safe there, and we must think this out."
Cynthia made no demur, and wrapped in Marcia Lowe's coat—Marcia had a lighter one beside—she clung close to the little doctor and walked the three miles to Trouble Neck without a word of complaint.