Until he felt the warm thrill of the girl's arm under his hand
Philip did not realize the hazard he had taken. He turned suddenly
to confront Bram. He would not have known then that the wolf-man
was mad, and impulsively he reached out a hand.

"Bram, she's starving," he cried. "I know now why you wanted that
stuff! But why didn't you tell me! Why don't you talk, and let me
know who she is, and why she is here, and what you want me to do?"

He waited, and Bram stared at him without a sound.

"I tell you I'm a friend," he went on. "I--"

He got no farther than that, for suddenly the cabin was filled
with the madness of Bram's laugh. It was more terrible than out on
the open Barren, or in the forest, and he felt the shudder of the
girl at his side. Her face was close to his shoulder, and looking
down he saw that it was white as death, but that even then she was
trying to smile at Bram. And Bram continued to laugh--and as he
laughed, his eyes blazing a greenish fire, he turned to the stove
and began putting fuel into the fire. It was horrible. Bram's
laugh--the girl's dead white face, AND HER SMILE! He no longer
asked himself who she was, and why she was there. He was
overwhelmed by the one appalling fact that she WAS here, and that
the stricken soul crying out to him from the depths of those eyes
that were like wonderful blue amethysts told him that Bram had
made her pay the price. His muscles hardened as he looked at the