"OBEY--you meant it, didn't you?" he repeated grimly.

A smile played about the corners of her mouth as she answered dreamily:

"Yes--I--I--PROMISED!"

"That's why I set my head on you from the first-- you're good and sweet--you're the real thing."Again she caught the sinister suggestion in his tone and threw him a startled look.

"What has come over you today, Jim?" she asked.He hesitated and answered carelessly.

"Oh, nothing, Kiddo--just been thinking a little about business.Got to go to work, you know." He returned to the table and touched the bag lightly.

"Watch out now for this bag while I put up the car--and don't forget that curiosity killed the cat."Quick as a flash, she asked: "What's in it?"Jim threw up his hands and laughed.

"Didn't I tell you that curiosity killed a cat?" He pointed to the skin on the wall."That's what stretched that wild-cat's hide up there! She got too near the old musket!""Anyhow, I'm not afraid of her end--what's in it?"Jim scratched his red head and looked at her thoughtfully."You asked me that once before today, didn't you?""Yes----"

"Well, it's a little secret of mine.Take my advice--put your hand on it, but not in it."Again the sinister look and tone chilled her.

"I don't like secrets between us, Jim," she said.

She looked at the bag reproachfully, and he watched her keenly--then laughed.

"I'd as well tell you and be done with it; you'll go in it anyhow."She tossed her head with a touch of angry pride.He took her hand, led her across the room and placed it on the valise.

"I've got five thousand dollars in gold in that bag." She drew back, surprised beyond the power of speech."And I'm going to give it to this old woman----"To her--why?" she gasped."She's my mother.""Your MOTHER?"

"Yes."

"I--I--thought--you told me she was dead." "No.I said that I didn't know who she was."He paused, and a queer brooding look crept into his face.

"I haven't seen her since I was a little duffer three years old.This room and these wild crags and trees come back to me now--just a glimpse of them here and there.I've always remembered them.I thought I'd dreamed it----""You remember--how wonderful!" she breathed reverently.She understood now, and the clouds lifted.

"The skunk I called my daddy," Jim went on thoughtfully, "took me to New York.He said that my mother deserted me when I was a kid.I believed him at first.But when he beat me and kicked me into the streets, I knew he was a liar.When I got grown I began to think and wonder about her.I hired a lawyer that knew my daddy, and he found her here----"

With a cry of joy, she seized his arms:

"Tell her quick! Oh, you're big and fine and generous, Jim--and I knew it! They said that you were a brute.I knew they lied.Tell her quick!"He lifted his hand in protest.

"Nope--I'm going to put up a little job on the old girl--show her the money tonight, get her wild at the sight of it--and give it to her Christmas morning.We've only a few hours to wait----""Oh, give it to her now--Jim!Give it to her now!" He shook his head and walked to the door.