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returning to him. They are female children, aren't they?
    Now the Quince woman stood there talking about taking her children, and Jewel recognized Frank's signature all over the deal. He had it all set up to sell Emma and Amy, whether I came back to work for him or not.
    "If you paid Frank Rossiter money to buy my children, you made a fool's deal. My children are not for sale." Jewel couldn't keep the contempt from her voice.
    "As a matter of fact," Hamilton Quince spoke finally. "I did pay the gambler money.
    But he assured me that you would gladly give them up. That you were not interested in motherhood."
    Jewel could hear the rising voices of the crowd outside, and that, combined with what seemed the collective will of the room for her to hand over her family, released words ill-considered but true.
    "Frank Rossiter had no right to take money from you, even if it's legal to buy and sell children, which I doubt that it is."
    When Hamilton Quince would have interrupted, she added, "Frank Rossiter did not provide for his children and lost any right to them long before they were born."
    The people in the world to which Frank had descended were animals not to be trusted. That Jewel had found out firsthand. Evidently Eclipse society folks were of the same ilk.
    "All the more reason for you to let us have them," Hamilton Quince spoke sternly, showing Jewel why he had a reputation for ruthlessness. He stepped in her path, blocking the door.
    "It's not like you're a respectable widow with the means to support two children.
    Everyone in this room knows how you've made a living, Jewel."
    Do they now, I wonder? She hoped nobody knew that Julie Fulton had fallen so far she'd had to take in laundry to support herself and the twins.
    "I don't care what you think. Unless you're going to arrange for my death too, get out of my way, because I'm leaving."
    Her implied accusation went unanswered, but the Quince couple retreated, no longer sure of their ability to control the gambler's widow.
    If Frank had spoken true, and Ma Siler had the twins, every minute Jewel was detained her daughters were in danger.
    She searched the faces of her captors. Always read your subject, Jewel. They'll telegraph their next move before they make it.
    She'd become a moderately decent poker player following Frank's teachings. Now she tried to find a weakness in the wall of humans keeping her.
    I can do this, Jewel assured herself. I delivered my babies alone, on a filthy mattress, in a paper shack, kept them safe for five months, and I will get them back. Frank had been disgusted when she'd turned up pregnant. She'd been frightened and resentful. She'd been too scared to use Ma Siler. She was ashamed when she remembered how she'd considered it. It had been a horrible nine months.
    She'd hidden the sickness easily because the throwing-up time had mostly been in the morning, and Frank had always been passed out or still gone. After he knew, his abuse had gotten considerably worse. It had curbed her ability to play cards in the last three months, although he'd tried lacing her stays even tighter to conceal her girth.
    Her absence from his card games had taken their toll. He'd lost, and lost again—
    blaming her each time he came back empty-handed. He'd called her a fat cow, a leech, and an idiot.
    She'd made him promise to get a doctor when her time came. The afternoon she'd gone into labor, Frank had said he'd go for help. Instead, he'd left Jewel writhing in pain in the only hovel they could afford after his losses at the table. But he'd found a seat in an all-night poker game and left her on her own.
    But his leaving had been all she'd needed to conquer her initial fear. Her body had set its own rhythm, and she'd ridden the pains to glory. When she'd thought everything was over, she'd tried to clean herself, only to have her body give her a second gift.

    * * * *
    Jewel hugged her arms defensively across her chest and stared defiantly at Hamilton Quince. She'd