“Hettie, do you suppose he will tell what he knows about what we did at the hospital.”

“No, I’m quite sure he won’t say a word about that,” was the slow and thoughtful reply.  “Gabe’s as cunning as a fox, even when he’s drunk.”

“He told you about it, though.”

“Ah, that’s different.  He knows that I understand all about it.  But he won’t say a word to anyone else.  If he does, he won’t get any more money.  He’s cute enough for that.”

“And you think he will come to me for more money?”

“I am sure of it.  He’ll never let up until he drains you of the last cent, that is, if you let him.  And you’re not the only one.”

“No?” Mrs. Hampton was becoming very curious now.  “Does he work his game upon others?”

“I should say he does.  There’s another woman from whom he has got money, more than he got from you, and that’s Mrs. Randall.”

“Oh!  Is she the—­the woman who got my baby?”

“The very one.  And Gabe was to her before he came to you.  That’s the way he’s been acting, the villain.”

Mrs. Hampton was silent for a few seconds.  Her heart was beating fast.  Now she knew for certain that Jess Randall was her own child.  The last vestige of doubt had at last been removed.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before, Hettie?” she asked.

“Tell you what?”

“That you were the Hettie Rawlins who was at the hospital when I was there, and that it was Mrs. Randall who got my baby.”

“Because you didn’t ask me.  You never mentioned that affair, so I thought you had forgotten, or didn’t want to speak about it.”

“No, Hettie, I had not forgotten it.  But I did not know it was you who exchanged the babies.  I saw you only a few times at the hospital, and when I again met you years later as Mrs. Grimsby I did not recognise you.  Oh, what would I not give to undo that terrible deed I committed!  I must have been crazy to sell my baby for money.”

“And I a fool for what I did.  But I must have been entirely out of my mind when I told Gabe anything.  I kept the secret for years, and then in one unguarded moment I let a few words slip from my lips.  Gabe threatened my life, and gave me no peace until I told him all.  I could not help it.  If you only knew what a life I lead you would understand.  Can you ever forgive me?”

“There is really nothing to forgive, Hettie,” was Mrs. Hampton’s sad reply.  “I am the one who needs forgiveness, not only from you but from the child I so heartlessly sold.  Did you ever see her?”

“No, not to my knowledge.  But I understand her life was not happy, and so the poor thing drowned herself to escape from her misery.  You have heard the news, I suppose?”

“Yes.  There has been a great deal about it in the papers.  Her body has not been found, has it?”

Mrs. Hampton tried to speak as unconcernedly as possible, and if Mrs. Grimsby had not been so much taken up with her own troubles she might have wondered why any mother could speak so coolly about the death of her own daughter, even though she had not seen her since she was a baby.