The wife and mother had stood by growing whiter and whiter, and with
lips pressed closely together. At this critical moment she stepped
before her infuriated husband and seized his arm, exclaiming:

"John, take care. You have reached the end."

"Stand aside," snarled the man, raising the strap, "or I'll give you a
taste of it, too."

The woman's grasp tightened on his arm, and in a voice that made him
pause and look fixedly at her, she said:

"If you strike me or that boy I'll take my children and we will leave
your roof this hateful day never to return."

"Hain't I to be master in my own house?" said the husband sullenly.

"You are not to be a brute in your own house. I know you've struck me
before, but I endured it and said nothing about it because you were
drunk, but you are not drunk now, and if you lay a finger on me or my
son to-day, I will never darken your doors again."

The unnatural father saw that he had gone too far. He had not expected
such an issue. He had long been accustomed to follow the lead of his
brutal passions, but had now reached a point where he felt he must
stop, as his wife said. Turning on his heel, he sullenly took his
place at the table, muttering:

"It's a pretty pass when there's mutiny in a man's own house." Then to