ome degree of interest. How much of her new-found courage was due
to the presence of her helpful counsellor Mildred did not realize until
she came to the parting. They were standing at the foot of the gangplank
in the New York custom-house.

"I am sorry that I cannot stay to see you safe in your uncle's care,"
the lady said, "but my son tells me there is barely time to catch the
next train to Boston. Good-bye, my child. If you get lonely and
discouraged, think of the motto in my wedding-ring, and take it for your
own."

The next instant Mildred felt, with a terrible sinking of the heart,
that she was all alone in the great, strange, new world.

Following the directions in her uncle's letter, she pushed her way
through the crowds until she came to the section marked "S," where he
was to meet her. There was no one in sight who bore any resemblance to
the description he had written of himself. She stood there until her
trunk was brought up, and then sat down on the battered little box to
wait.

An hour went by, and she began to look around with frightened, nervous
glances. A half-hour more passed. The crowds had diminished, for the
officials were making their custom-house examinations as rapidly as
possible. All around her the sections were being emptied, and the
baggage wheeled off in big trucks. The newsboys and telegraph agents had
all gone. A great fear fell suddenly upon her that her uncle was never
coming, and that she would soon be left entirely alone in this barnlike,
cavernous custom-house, with its bare walls and dusty floors; and night
was coming on, and she had nowhere to go.

She was groping in her pocket for a handkerchief to stop the tears that
would come, despite her brave efforts to wink them back, when some one
spoke to her. It was the pretty college girl whom the others had
called Muffit.

[Illustration: "SAT DOWN ON THE BATTERED LITTLE BOX TO WAIT."]

"Are you having trouble with your baggage too?" she asked, kindly. "One
of our trunks was misplaced, and they would not examine anything until
it was found. It is here at last, thank fortune, so that we shall not be
delayed much longer. Mamma and I have noticed you waiting here, and
wondered if you were in the same predicament. Papa says that he will be
so glad to help you in any way he can, if you need his assistance." She
did not add that her mother had said, "I can't go away with any peace of
mind until I see that child safe in somebody's hands.