Let me try." He took a stool at her feet, and set himself to unravel one of the tangled skeins.

In a minute the wool was stretched on his hands, and the loose end was ready for Mercy to wind.

There was something in the trivial action, and in the homely attention that it implied, which in some degree quieted her fear of him.

She began to roll the wool off his hands into a ball.

Thus occupied, she said the daring words which were to lead him little by little into betraying his suspicions, if he did indeed suspect the truth..