ed in a foundry and who was steady and perhaps rather
too serious. He was very jealous of Edna and exacted a stern degree of
fidelity of her.

Before her engagement Edna had gone to a decent dancing school and
dearly loved the dance. Now she was not permitted to dance with any one
but her prospective husband. The bright talk at the noon hour made Edna
feel that she was a very poor sport.

The young man's work in the foundry alternated weekly between day and
night duty. It occurred to Edna that her young man could not possibly
know what she did with those evenings he remained in the foundry. If she
chose to go with a group of girls to a dance hall, what harm? The long
years of married life stretched themselves out somewhat drably to Edna.
She decided to have a good time beforehand.

This girl from now on literally lived a double life. Evenings of the
weeks her young man was free from the foundry, she spent at home with
him, placidly playing cards, reading aloud, or talking. On the other
evenings she danced, madly, incessantly. Her mother thought she spent
the evenings with her girl friends. The dancing, plus the deceit, soon
had its effect on Edna. She began to visit livelier and livelier
resorts, curious to see all phases of pleasure.

Suspicion entered into the mind of her affianced. He questioned her;
she lied, and he was unconvinced. A night or two later the young man
stayed away from the foundry and followed Edna to a suburban resort. She
went, as usual, with a group of girls, but their men were waiting for
them near the door of the open-air dancing pavilion. Standing just
outside, the angry lover watched the girl "spiel" round and round with a
man of doubtful respectability. Soon she joined a noisy, beer-drinking
group at one of the tables, and her behavior grew more and more
reckless. Finally, amid laughter, she and another girl performed a
suggestive dance together.

Walking swiftly up to her, the outraged foundryman grasped her by the
shoulder, called her a name she did not yet deserve, and threw her
violently to the floor. A terrific fight followed, and the police soon
cleared the place.

Edna did not dare go home. An over-rigid standard of morals, an
over-repressive policy, an over-righteous judgment, plus a mother
ignorant of the facts of life, plus a girl's longing for joy--the sum of
these equaled ruin in Edna's case.

CHAPTER VIII

WOMAN'S HELPING HAND TO THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER

Annie,