"Ye air the miserablest little devil I ever seed. No pappy, and a mammy what air afraid to say ye air hers. I hated ye last night, but ye air such a wrinkled little tramp that this mornin' I promises ye to keep ye till ye dies."
She was bending over the babe, watching every expression that flitted over the drawn mouth. In this position she did not hear the door open silently, as Teola stepped in.
The minister's daughter whispered to the crouching squatter: "Tessibel, can--can you ever forgive me?"
Tess stood up and took a long breath. Teola noted how the night had changed the brilliant coloring to a whiteness that startled her. An agony of remorse broke over her, and, dropping upon her knees, she wept upon the face of little Dan.
"Tess, I've nearly died all through the night.... Oh, can you forgive me?"
"I ain't no business to be a-forgivin' ye. It be the brat what ye air to asks forgiveness of."
Teola sprang to her feet.
"Tess!" she cried sharply. Never had the girl appeared in this light.
"It air hard on the little kid," Tessibel said meditatively, "when its ma says what another woman air a-mothering it for good and all."
This remark came forth in even tones. Teola had not thought of the harm she had done the child of Dan Jordan, by throwing the motherhood upon the squatter. She turned her troubled eyes, first upon Tess, then upon the child.
"Tessibel, I do love him, even if I disowned him. But I haven't the courage you have. You looked so beautiful when you said he was yours.... And Frederick is ill to-day."
Tessibel's heart thumped loudly.
"I heard him crying all night, Tess," went on Teola, "and, oh! so many times I wanted to go and tell him that you were--a good girl; but I didn't have the courage. But I know that sometime--Tess, will you pray for me?"
"I ain't doin' no prayin' to-day," replied Tess. "To-morry, mebbe.... Aw! I wanted the student to pray for Daddy, and to like me--"
Teola never forgot the scene that followed.
The fisher-girl settled in a heap upon the floor, bowed the tired head, and wept.
"Tessibel! Tess," called Teola, touching the girl's shoulder, "listen. I'll tell him!--I'll tell him! He shall come back to you to-night--if it kills me."
Tessibel lifted her white face.
"Ye be goin' to tell him that the brat air yers?" queried she brokenly.