This
makes three little graves on the hill, Jimmy, what do they mean to ye?"
"Domn bad luck," said Jimmy promptly.
"Nothing more?" asked Dannie. "Na responsibility at all. Ye are
the father of those children. Have ye never been to the doctor, and
asked why ye lost them?"
"No, I haven't," said Jimmy.
"That is ane thing we will do now," said Dannie, "and then we will
do more, much more."
"What are you driving at?" asked Jimmy.
"The secret of Mary's heart," said Dannie.
The cold sweat ran from the pores of Jimmy's body. He licked his
dry lips, and pulled his hat over his eyes, that he might watch
Dannie from under the brim.
"We are twa big, strong men," said Dannie. "For fifteen years we
have lived here wi' Mary. The night ye married her, the licht of
happiness went out for me. But I shut my mouth, and shouldered my
burden, and went on with my best foot first; because if she had na
refused me, I should have married her, and then ye would have been
the one to suffer. If she had chosen me, I should have married her,
juist as ye did. Oh, I've never forgotten that! So I have na been
a happy mon, Jimmy. We winna go into that any further, we've been
over it once. It seems to be a form of torture especially designed
fra me, though at times I must confess, it seems rough, and I canna
see why, but we'll cut that off with this: life has been Hell's
hottest sweat-box fra me these fifteen years."
Jimmy groaned aloud. Dannie's keen gray eyes seemed boring into the
soul of the man before him, as he went on.
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