t up with the greatest care
and expense. If I had ten daughters I'd trust him with them all. He
is the soul of honor about everything, so don't hesitate to tell
him just how you're fixed. If you are happy and contented, that's
all I want to know; but if you ain't I want to know that posthaste,
for I shall want you to come right here to me at Keefe. Ben will
tell you how to come and you can tell Mr. Carder that you have
found a better position. Give him a week's notice; that's
_honorable_ and _long enough_. I shan't be easy in my mind till Ben
gets back, and he's so good to go for me that I should love him
for it all the rest of my life if I didn't already.

Now, good-bye, dear child, and be _perfectly frank_ with Ben.

Your loving friend
MEHITABLE UPTON

In her utter despair and desolation this homely expression of
affectionate solicitude went to Geraldine's heart like a message from
heaven. She held the senseless paper to her breast, and her pulses beat
fast as she read again those words scribbled across the face of the
envelope.

They meant an understanding that she was not a free agent. They meant
that the young knight had not given up. He could never know--kind Miss
Upton must never know--what it was that compelled her, and why nothing
that they might contrive could save her.

Good little Pete had risked brutal treatment to bring her this. Her
heart welled with gratitude toward him. She felt that she could continue
to protect him to a degree, for the infatuation of their master gave her
power to that extent.

She was no longer pale. Her cheeks were flushed, her sobs ceased. There
were hearts that cared for her. Some miracle might intervene to save
her. The knight was a lawyer. The law was very wonderful. A sudden
shudder passed over her. What it could have done to her father--still
honored at his clubs as the prince of good fellows!

She reviewed her situation anew. It was established that she was a
prisoner. Then in order to obey the message on the envelope she must
follow the example of the more ambitious prisoners and become a trusty.
Poor Geraldine, who had ceased to pray, began to feel that there might
be a God after all; and when she was between the coarse, mended sheets
of her bed she held Miss Upton's letter to her breast and thanked the
unseen Power for a friend.

When she awoke, it was with the confused sense that some happiness was