"EVERETT BRIMBECOMB."

Fledra sat as if in a trance, her eyelids drooping over almost sightless
eyes. The last blow had fallen upon her, and she knew that she must go.
That she could ever be forced away thus without her brother, that Horace
could be given no chance to help her, had never crossed her mind.
Through her imagination drifted Lon's dark, cruel face, followed by a
vision of Lem Crabbe. Feature after feature of the scowman came vividly
to her,--the wind-reddened skin, the foul, tobacco-browned lips, the
twitching goiter,--all added to the nervous chill that had suddenly come
upon the girl. Lem and Lon represented all the world's evil to her, and
Everett Brimbecomb all the world's influence. The three had thrust their
triple strength between her and happiness. Her dear ones should not fall
before the wrath of Lem and Lon, or before the unsurmountable power of
Everett Brimbecomb! In her hands alone lay their salvation. Like one
stunned, she rose from the bed and carefully destroyed the two letters.
This was the one command she would obey promptly.

When Ann knocked softly at the door, and no answer came, she gently
pushed it open. Fledra lay with her face to the wall as if asleep. Miss
Shellington bent over her, and then crept quietly out to allow the girl
to rest another hour. No sooner had the door closed than Fledra sat up
with clenched fists, her face blanched with terror. She could not
confront the inevitable without help. But not once did it occur to her
that Horace Shellington would be able to protect not only her, but
himself also. The path of her future life stretched from Tarrytown to
Ithaca, straight into Lem's scow!

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