Penrod paused abruptly, seeing something before himself—­the august and awful presence which filled the entryway.  And his words (it should be related) froze upon his lips.

Before herself, Mrs. Roderick Magsworth Bitts saw her son—­her scion—­wearing a moustache and sideburns of blue, and perched upon a box flanked by Sherman and Verman, the Michigan rats, the Indian dog Duke, Herman, and the dog part alligator.

Roddy, also, saw something before himself.  It needed no prophet to read the countenance of the dread apparition in the entryway.  His mouth opened—­remained open—­then filled to capacity with a calamitous sound of grief not unmingled with apprehension.

Penrod’s reason staggered under the crisis.  For a horrible moment he saw Mrs. Roderick Magsworth Bitts approaching like some fatal mountain in avalanche.  She seemed to grow larger and redder; lightnings played about her head; he had a vague consciousness of the audience spraying out in flight, of the squealings, tramplings and dispersals of a stricken field.  The mountain was close upon him——­

He stood by the open mouth of the hay-chute which went through the floor to the manger below.  Penrod also went through the floor.  He propelled himself into the chute and shot down, but not quite to the manger, for Mr. Samuel Williams had thoughtfully stepped into the chute a moment in advance of his partner.  Penrod lit upon Sam.

Catastrophic noises resounded in the loft; volcanoes seemed to romp upon the stairway.

There ensued a period when only a shrill keening marked the passing of Roderick as he was borne to the tumbril.  Then all was silence.

. . .  Sunset, striking through a western window, rouged the walls of the Schofields’ library, where gathered a joint family council and court martial of four—­Mrs. Schofield, Mr. Schofield, and Mr. and Mrs. Williams, parents of Samuel of that ilk.  Mr. Williams read aloud a conspicuous passage from the last edition of the evening paper: 

“Prominent people here believed close relations of woman sentenced to hang.  Angry denial by Mrs. R. Magsworth Bitts.  Relationship admitted by younger member of family.  His statement confirmed by boy-friends——­”

“Don’t!” said Mrs. Williams, addressing her husband vehemently.  “We’ve all read it a dozen times.  We’ve got plenty of trouble on our hands without hearing that again!”

Singularly enough, Mrs. Williams did not look troubled; she looked as if she were trying to look troubled.  Mrs. Schofield wore a similar expression.  So did Mr. Schofield.  So did Mr. Williams.

“What did she say when she called you up?” Mrs. Schofield inquired breathlessly of Mrs. Williams.

“She could hardly speak at first, and then when she did talk, she talked so fast I couldn’t understand most of it, and——­”

“It was just the same when she tried to talk to me,” said Mrs. Schofield, nodding.