When Catherine saw the furious look on Barbara\'s face as she descended from the platform the night of the election, she avoided a meeting and went to bed pleading a headache.

Early the next morning Barbara rapped for entrance, forced her way in, and stood, tense with anger, before the older woman, her eyes red from the long vigil of a sleepless night.

"You avoided me last night——"

Catherine laughed.

"My dear, I never saw you in quite such a rage. It might be serious if it were not so silly."

"You\'ll find it serious before you are through with this performance," Barbara retorted, angrily.

"Remember, I am in supreme authority now. Don\'t you dare speak to me in that manner, you ungrateful little wretch!"

"I\'ll dare to tell you the truth—even if you were the mother who bore me—even if I had not repaid you a hundredfold for every dollar you have spent on me."

[270]"Hush, hush, my dear, I do not wish to quarrel," Catherine said, recovering herself. "I know your pride is wounded over your defeat. I\'ve watched your growing vanity in high office with much amusement for the past year."

"I\'m not thinking of myself," Barbara said with emphasis.

"Of course not—what woman ever does?" Catherine sneered.

"I am glad to be relieved of the annoyance of such a position. But your treatment of the brave and daring young spirit who conceived this colony and created its wealth and influence——"

"Am I responsible?"

"Yes. Herman is incapable of conceiving such a plot without your suggestion. It is your work. You have always loved luxury and power."

"Perhaps I love a man also," Catherine interrupted, as her full sensuous lips curled in a curious smile.

"Yes, I give you credit for that too," the girl admitted. "Though I confess the secret of your infatuation for that hulking brute has always been one of the black mysteries of life to me."

"When you\'re older," again the round lips quivered with a smile, "perhaps you will understand. And now, my child, I\'ve been patient [271]with you. But don\'t you ever again call Herman a brute in my presence."

"Take care he doesn\'t prove it to you!" the girl warned.

Catherine suddenly paled.

"What do you mean by that?" she whispered, glancing about the room.

"Nothing! nothing! nothing! Only that in every deed of the devil there is the seed of death. You have planted the seed. Th............