Let's see what's in here." There was a flash of light in the crack of the door leading from the dining-room.

That door was thrown open and the light became a blaze from a big lantern held aloft.
"Hey! What!" exclaimed the second voice.

"Who--women, by the everlastin'!" Mrs.Barnes and Emily clinging to each other, blinked in the lantern light.
"Women! Two women!" said the voice again.
Thankful answered.

The voice was real and it came from a human throat.
Anything human--and visible--she did not fear.
"Yes," she said, crisply, "we're women.

What of it?
Who are you ?" The man with the lantern entered the room.