you know--the reg'lar
nurse's uniform."

"Do you know where Mrs. Orme lives?"

"No, miss; haven't the faintest idea."

"Who is Mrs. Tolliver's doctor?"

"The house physician, Dr. Pease. His office is No. 633, in this hotel."

"Thank you, Alice."

Josie hunted up Mary Louise.

"Have you ever heard that a trained nurse named Mrs. Orme is in any way
connected with Alora's history?" she asked.

"No; I'm pretty sure Alora has never mentioned such a person. What
about her, Josie?

"I think Alora went away with her. Have you any description of Miss
Gorham, the governess?"

"Not especially," said Mary Louise, trying to remember. "Alora has
sometimes referred to her as 'Old Skinny,' but that doesn't mean
anything."

"It means she isn't Mrs. Orme, anyhow," answered Josie, in a
disappointed tone.

Mary Louise considered this in her usual careful way. She would like to
help Josie, if she could.

"Who do you suppose this Mrs. Orme could be?" she presently asked.

"Some one whom Alora knew years ago, when her mother was alive. Of
course her name may not have been Orme, then, and she may not have been
a trained nurse. That's why I was inclined to connect her with Gorham."

"Wait a minute, Josie! A nurse, do you say? Why, I remember something
about a nurse, no--Alora's mother's nurse. When we were in Italy, where
I first knew Alora, she told me that her father, at one time when they
lived in New York, had been forced to give money to a woman, and Alora
believed he had left America to escape this person's further demands.
When I asked who the woman was, she said it was her mother's nurse; but
I'm pretty sure she didn't mention her name."

Josie's freckled face now wore a broad smile.

"How simple any enigma proves when you have the key," she remarked,
with an air of relief. "The mystery is solved, my dear! It's all as
easy as A. B. C."

"In that case," said Mary Louise, more mystified than ever, "kindly
oblige me with the key."

"With pleasure. You haven't given me much time to forge a chain, so
I'll add each link as it occurs to me. Mrs. Jones, during her last
illness, had a nurse; a good nurse, too, in whom she had confidence.
When Mrs. Jones sent for her husband, from whom she had been estranged,
the nurse was aware of the action. When the husband came--Alora's
father--without doubt the nurse remained in the sick room during the
interview. Husband and wife quarreled, instead of making up--this guess
is jus