said Houston, rising abruptly.

"Indeed!" exclaimed Haight.

"Yes, and there will be more black eyes if there are any more
insinuations of that character," and Houston returned to the office,
leaving behind him a bitter enemy, but one whose enmity would be
concealed by a cloak of friendship.

Meanwhile, while Houston was pursuing his chivalric course, Miss
Gladden, sitting by the fire in the deserted breakfast room, was
planning in what way and by what means she could best help her young
friend in whom she felt such an interest. The scene at the table had
given her a new insight into Lyle's surroundings; the rudeness and
insult to which the beautiful girl was likely to be subjected in such
a home, the possible dangers to which she might also be exposed, and
she was more than ever determined to win the confidence of the
reserved, proud-spirited girl.

In the midst of her reflections, Lyle entered the room, and Miss
Gladden saw there were still traces of trouble in her face.
Unconscious of the friends who were beginning to care for her welfare,
Lyle had felt that morning as though she could endure her life there
no longer. She had felt by a sort of instinct that she was in some way
connected with the talk at the table, and she knew that both Morgan
and Haight would not hesitate to injure her by their insinuations, in
retaliation for the manner in which she had met their advances.
Thirsting for human sympathy, her heart quickly responded to Miss
Gladden's words, as she told Lyle of her interest in her, her sympathy
for her, and her desire to help her, and in reply to one or two
questions, she spoke freely of the trials she had suffered, inevitably
connected with a life such as hers, and touched by the kindness of her
new-found friend, Lyle continued:

"The insults and insinuations of those men, and others like them,
are bad enough, but I expect nothing else from such as they, but
when one receives insult from the source where one would expect
protection,--that is hardest of all," and with flushed cheeks and
quivering lips, Lyle related the scene with her father, and his
words to her, while Miss Gladden looked inexpressibly shocked.

"I was almost desperate this morning," she said in conclusion, "I felt
as though I could not live such a life any longer; I must go
somewhere, anywhere, to get away from it. Mother says that nothing of
that kind shall ever happen again, that father is in her power in some
way, and she