e gap in the
railing that had been the ruin of poor Sal, the nurse paused with a look
of anxiety sweeping over her face.

"It mustn't be left in that way," she said in dismay. Then she called,
"Dinney! Is Dinney down there?" as she looked down the stairway.
"Someone tell Dinney to bring me a rope--clothesline will do."

The rope was brought, and Gloria, standing by in wonder, watched the
deft fingers weave it back and forth across the danger gap. This was an
unexpected type of a nurse's duties.

"There, that will do as a makeshift. Anyway, nobody but the thinnest of
them can leak through, and Sal isn't here to lean on it; poor Sal!"

Rose was not in the bare, half-lighted little room they entered. The
tidiness and cleanliness of it, however, bore witness to her recent
occupancy. On the neat bed lay a baby asleep.

"Hunkie!" Gloria said softly, as she tiptoed across the room and looked
down at the thin little face.

"It seems a tiny morsel of humanity to get hold of life, doesn't
it?" said the nurse. "But Rose is so careful of it, and Dinney is so
insistent that it shall have everything it needs."

Then she turned to Gloria. "Now sit down and make yourself comfortable,
and wait for me. You are not fit to go around with me now. Rose will be
here in a little while, doubtless."

Gloria dropped into a chair. Left to herself, she looked around the
plain little room. Her eyes took in the pitiful details--the uneven
boards of the floor, the sagging ceiling, the cracked window panes. How
sharply the room contrasted with her own, and yet this was the room of
Rose--with eyes like hers. A girl who had thoughts and dreams and
aspirations the same as she had. As these thoughts went through
Gloria's mind she leaned back. The strain of excitement had told on her.
Exhaustion took possession of her. She did not intend to sleep, but her
eyes closed against her will. How long she sat thus she did not know,
but in time there came to her a consciousness of whispering in the room
and a baby's laugh. Opening her eyes she saw a pretty picture--a young
girl tossing a baby into the air and catching it again, and the baby
cooing.

[Illustration: IMMEDIATELY MISS WINSHIP WAS BESIDE HER.]

Instantly the girl with the baby caught sight of Gloria as she stirred.

"And so you are awake. You looked so tired," said the girl.

Gloria straightened and arranged her hair. The many hairpins felt
uncomfortable.

The girl with the baby looked a