Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/80

 in pitying tenderness upon the poor woman's shoulder. The other did not move, however, did not utter a word. She merely sat there, staring stonily ahead of her at nothing, the great tears rolling silently down her cheeks.

"Well," it was Master Todd's husky voice which finally broke the stillness, "I shall go out again, Molly!" He waited a moment; but his wife did rot speak or move, and he slowly withdrew into the night.

Scarcely had he gone, however, when he wis back. There was a rush of feet in the doorway, a man's rapturous cry, and Master Todd burst in upon them again. "Mary is found!" He strode over to shake his wife, who looked up at him bewilderedly. "Ye hear, Moll! Our Mary!"

They all turned toward the door, and an instant later Jerry staggered across the threshold with little Mary in his arms. Swiftly, silently he leaped across the room and placed the chubby form in her mother's outstretched arms. He alone saw the terrible appeal in Mistress Todd's eyes. "Aye, she is alive!" he said simply.