and she spoke in a hard, husky voice.

Opening her purse, she took from it a small roll of bills, and as
she held out the money said, slowly and with a hard emphasis,

"You understand the terms. I do not know you--not even your name. I
don't wish to know you. For this consideration you take the child
away. That is the end of it between you and me. The child is your
own as much as if he were born to you, and you can do with him as
you please. And now go." Mrs. Dinneford waved her hand.

"His name?" queried the woman.

"He has no name!" Mrs. Dinneford stamped her foot in angry
impatience.

The woman stooped down, and taking up the basket, tucked the
covering that had been laid over the baby close about its head, so
that no one could see what she carried, and went off without
uttering another word.

It was some moments before either Mrs. Dinneford or the nurse spoke.
Mrs. Bray was first to break silence.

"All this means a great deal more than you have counted on," she
said, in a voice that betrayed some little feeling. "To throw a
tender baby out like that is a hard thing. I am afraid--"

"There, there! no more of that," returned Mrs. Dinneford,
impatiently. "It's ugly work, I own, but it had to be done--like