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 said. "If it was not this, it would be something else. He is a man's dog and needs a strong hand. Perhaps it is all for the best."

"Well," said the girl stoutly, "I am going to fight it. I won't stand by and see him murdered. You tell them I am not at home and that you don't know where Silversheene is. I will go down and stay with him and keep him quiet."

"All right. Perhaps it will all blow over. It is a mean trick and no one but Mike Fogarty would do it. You know he hated your father and now he takes it out on us."

The woman had crossed the room as she was speaking and stood peering out of the window at the approaching automobile.

"Hurry, child, hurry, or they will see you."

The girl needed no further admonition but slipped noiselessly out of the back door. When she was half-way across the yard her mother's voice called her again.