"Hold your tongue and stop talkin' foolishness,"
she blazed out, the courage of a tigress fighting for
her young in her eyes, the same bold ring in her
voice. "I tell ye, Captain Holt, it's got to stop short
off, and NOW! I know men; have known 'em to my
misery. I know when they're honest and I know
when they ain't, and so do you, if you would open
your eyes. Bart don't mean no good to my bairn.
I see it in his face. I see it in the way he touches
her hand and ties on her bonnet. I've watched him
ever since the first night he laid eyes on her. He
ain't a man with a heart in him; he's a sneak with a
lie in his mouth. Why don't he come round like any
of the others and say where he's goin' and what he
wants to do instead of peepin' round the gate-posts
watchin' for her and sendin' her notes on the sly,
and makin' her lie to me, her old nurse, who's done
nothin' but love her? Doctor John don't treat Miss
Jane so--he loves her like a man ought to love a
woman and he ain't got nothin' to hide--and you
didn't treat your wife so. There's something here
that tells me"--and she laid her hand on her bosom
--"tells me more'n I dare tell ye. I warn ye now
ag'in. Send him to sea--anywhere, before it is too
late. She ain't got no mother; she won't mind a word
I say; Miss Jane is blind as a bat; out with him and
NOW!"

The captain straightened himself up, and with his