y, will open for my willing feet."

"God grant that it may be so," exclaimed Mr. Elliott, with a fervor
that showed how deeply he was interested. "I believe you are right. The
slender mooring that holds this wretched man to the shore must not be
cut or broken. Sever that, and he is swept, I fear, to hopeless ruin.
You will see his daughter?"

"Yes. It is all plain now. I will go to her at once. I will be her fast
friend. I will let my heart go out to her as if she were my own child.
I will help her to keep the home her tender and loving heart is trying
to maintain."

Mrs. Birtwell now spoke with an eager enthusiasm that sent the warm
color to her cheeks and made her eyes, so heavy and sorrowful a little
while before, bright and full of hope.

On rising to go, Mr. Elliott urged her to do all in her power to save
the wretched man who had fallen over the stumbling-block their hands
had laid in his way, promising on his part all possible co-operation.

CHAPTER XXII.

AS Mrs. Birtwell left the house of Mr. Elliott a slender girl, thinly
clad, passed from the beautiful residence of Mrs. Sandford. She had
gone in only a little while before with hope in her pale young face;
now it had almost a frightened look. Her eyes were wet, and her lips
had the curve of one who grieves helplessly and in silence. Her steps,
as she moved down the street, were slow and unsteady, like the steps of
one who bore a heavy burden or of one weakened by long illness. In her
ears was ringing a sentence that had struck upon them like the doom of
hope. It was this--and it had fallen from the lips of Mrs. Sandford,
spoken with a cold severity that was more assumed than real--

"If you will do as I suggest, I will see that you have a good home; but
if you will not, I can do nothing for you."

There was no reply on the part of the young girl, and no sign of doubt
or hesitation. All the light--it had been fading slowly as the brief
conference between her and Mrs. Sandford had progressed--died out of
her face. She shrunk a little in her chair, her head dropping forward.
For the space of half a minute she sat with eyes cast down. Both were
silent, Mrs. Sandford waiting to see the effect of what she had said,
and hoping it would work a change in the girl's purpose. But she was
disappointed. After sitting in a stunned kind of way for a short time,
she rose, and without trusting herself to speak bowed slightly and left
the room. Mrs. Sandford di