"Oh, don't shake your head, Frederick!" cried Tess, frantically. "Please!... Please!... Me an' the baby won't be any bother to you!... We'll jest love ye always an' forever, me an' the baby will....
"Ye could save us that way! Ye needn't tell 'em anythin' but that!"
Suddenly another thought took possession of her.
"What else did Mrs. Waldstricker say?" she demanded. "What were ye both wantin' me to do?"
"Mr. Waldstricker told his wife and my--I mean Madelene--that you'll either be sent away or must marry--marry Lysander Letts."
Tess stared at him wildly as though he were going mad. Or was she losing her reason! What awful thing had he said. Lysander Letts--surely she had not heard straight.
"Ye weren't tellin' me what were true, Frederick," she whimpered overwhelmed. "Oh, ye scared me so!"
"But I am telling you the truth!" he exclaimed miserably. His voice broke. "I can't save you, Tessibel. Waldstricker can do anything he wants. Why--why--Waldstricker's hands're stronger--are stronger than God's."
She heard his words as if in a dream. "Stronger'n God's," echoed through the recesses of her brain in fearful mockery. She was lost, engulfed in the hatred of Waldstricker. She saw through the mist over her eyes, Lysander Letts leering menacingly at her. She sat very still and held her breath. If she let it go, her heart would break.
"Stronger'n God's," were the only words she remembered. Then, if that were true, and Frederick had said it--then--then, nothing--nobody--could take from her this brimming cup of disgrace and destruction. She struggled to her feet, walked to the door and opened it. Her eyes sought the dejected looking man.
"I air askin' ye to go now, please, right now," she said quietly. "Tell Mrs. Waldstricker, I air much obliged."
"And haven't you something to say to me, Tess?... Oh, God, don't send me away like this!"
She laid one hand on her heart. "Only go," she whispered, "an' never, never come again!"
Frederick stepped over the threshold, and Tess shut the door behind him.