The next day was full of dreams for Judith. She stood getting chicken feed from the bag in the barn, thinking of Sven, and of the distant place that they would soon go to together.
Sven had been wonderful last night, had talked to her as he had never talked to her before. It had been almost impossible to get up and say good-bye to him.
Soon there would be no more good-bys. They would have a snug cottage in town, and Sven would go to his work everyday, but at night they would be together again--all night....It seemed
that was already true, that Caleb, and the cattle, and the land, and sweat, and hay dust, were gone forever. She glanced up and saw a shadow fall across the floor of the barn. Then Caleb stood in the doorway.
Judith stood erect. She saw his face, like a mask cut out of granite. He had seen them--she knew it instantly. Somehow he had discovered--spied on them. He stepped into the barn. Judith was dumb.
"Well, what have you got to say for yourself, eh? What've ye got to say for yourself?" He descended upon her, his face thrust forward. Judith did not move. Her eyes swept the floor for a fraction of
a second. A yard from her feet lay an ax with a small handle. It had fallen from a strap on the wall behind her.
"What're you up to, out there in the bush, eh? With that Sandbo dog, heh, heh! A bitch like your mother, eh? Come here and I'll show ye it pays to be decent!" He took another step towards her. Judith's
hand swept down and grasped the handle of the ax.
She straightened like a flash and flung it with all her strength at Caleb's head. Her eyes closed dizzily, and when she opened them again he was crouching before her, his hand moving across his moustache.
The ax was buried in the rotten wall behind his head.
"So--that's your little trick, it is? Well!" He sprang forward and seized Judith by the wrists, throwing her to the floor. Then he snatched a coil of rope from the wall and tied her hand and foot to the
base of the manger.
Judith was too stunned by the violence of her act to struggle. She lay on her face, as he had left her, scarcely aware of the smell of manure from the floor of the stall. Presently she began to tremble
uncontrollably. She knew he had gone out. She was not afraid of him on her own part. But he would go to Amelia. Amelia was powerless against him and he would be insane with rage.