"'Not alone?'
"'No, Abraham; Bernard McKey has been with me.'
"'By what right?' he demanded, with that mighty power of voice that is laid up within him for especial occasions.
"'By the right that I gave him, by the right that is his to walk with me,' I said; for I grew defiant, and felt a renewal of strength, enough to tell Abraham the truth.
"Don't start so, Anemone," she said to me. "You think defiance unwomanly, and so do I; but it was for once only, and I felt that my brother had no right to question me.
"But one word came from his lips, as he confronted me there, with folded arms; it was,—
"'When?'
"'This very afternoon, Abraham.'
"Mother came out at the moment. She saw the cloud on Abraham's brow even in the dim light. She asked, 'What is it?' and Abraham answered us both at the same time.
"He had been to the home of Bernard McKey. He proved to my mother's utmost satisfaction that her daughter had no right to care for one like Bernard McKey. He did not know the right that came on that night almost two years before. He saw that his proofs were idle to me; but he said 'he had another, one that I would accept, for I was an Axtell.'