ry, checking off
the several assertions she had made when she was at the Ball house
far more clearly than the girl herself had done. As Sheila
listened, her heart sank even lower. It was so very reasonable! How
could the Balls fail to be impressed?

But Cap'n Ira and Prudence listened with more of a puzzled
expression in their countenances than anything else. It seemed
altogether wild and improbable to them. Why! There sat Ida May
before them. There could not be two Ida May Bostwicks!

"Say!" exclaimed Cap'n Ira suddenly, after Elder Minnett had
concluded, "that girl says she worked at Hoskin & Marl's?"

"Yes."

"Why, ain't that where you worked, Ida May?"

"Yes," was Sheila's faint admission.

"You never see her there, did you?"

"I do not remember of having seen her until she came here," the girl
said quite truthfully.

"Ought to be some way of proving up that," muttered Cap'n Ira.

"I have written to Hoskin & Marl, at the other young woman's
instigation, and have asked about her," said Elder Minnett.

"Well, I never!" gasped Prudence, and her withered, old face grew
pink.

"I hope you will not take offense," said the visitor evenly. "You
must understand that the young woman has come to me in trouble, and
it is my duty to aid her if I can--in any proper way. That is my
office. _Any_ young woman"--he looked directly at Sheila again as he
said it--"will find in me an adviser and a friend whenever she may
need my help."

"We all know how good you are, Elder Minnett," Prudence hastened to
say. "But that girl--"

"That girl," he interrupted, "is a human being needing help. I have
advised her. Now I want to advise you."

"Out with it, Elder," said Cap'n Ira. "Good advice ain't to be
sneezed at--not as I ever heard."

"I have the other young woman's promise that she will tell her story
to nobody else--nobody at all--until I can hear from those whom she
says are her employers. But with the understanding that you will do
your part."

"What's that?" asked Cap'n Ira quickly.

"She wants to come up here and stay with you. She says she is sure
you are her relatives. She says if you will let her come, she
will be able to prove to you that she is the real niece you
expected--whom you sent for last summer."

"Why, she's crazy!" again cried Cap'n Ira.

"I--I am almost afraid of her," murmured Prudence, looking from
Sheila to her husband.

"I assure you, Sister Ball, she is not insane. She is harmless."